E1 all electric boat racing opens Season 2 in Jeddah

The UIM E1 World Championship, the all electric boat racing series that made its debut on the shores of the Red Sea last February, is returning to Jeddah this January 24 and 25 to open its second exciting season. It will be the first stop of an expanded calendar set to feature seven events across multiple continents.

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UPDATE: Sergio Perez team out, LeBron James team in.

Last Thursday, just days before the race, E1 Series announced that a new team – Team AlUla Championed by LeBron James – would be joining the fleet in place of the team owned by Mexican F1 drive Sergio Perez

The team is named after the ancient oasis city in Saudi Arabia – a growing luxury heritage boutique destination and home to Hegra, the Kingdom’s first UNESCO World Heritage site. Pilots will be newcomer Rusty Wyatt and Catie Munnings, who raced for Team Brazil last year.

Aoki Racing Team triumphs Jeddah season opener

The team backed by DJ  Producer Steve Aoki, established an early Championship lead in the Series, surging to victory on the Red Sea in front of thousands of excited fans in E1’s season.

This was Aoki Racing Team’s first ever E1 win and marks a stunning comeback after a difficult 2024 season which saw them finish eighth overall.

See Plugboats coverage of all races in the E1 Series 2025 Championship:
Doha  Dubrovnik  Maggiore  Monaco  Lagos Miami

“It just goes to show the underdog has a chance when you have determination, passion, and love for the sport” said Team Owner Aoki. “We came together and retooled everything we possibly could, we put our heart and determination into it, and just to see this all happening right here, right now, winning this one, it’s just a dream come true.”

They return home with maximum points – 39 – after fending off fierce competition from second place finisher Team Rafa and Virat Kohli’s Team Blue Rising who secured their maiden podium in third.

Aoki Racing Team pilot and Saudi native Mashael Alobaidan – the country’s first-ever female rally driver – thrilled the home fans with her best performance in a RaceBird to date, sharing the win with Dani Clos, who was with the Perez team last season.

Click »» here for final race results

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Electric boat racing with 150 kW motors

The series is loosely patterned after the on-land Formula 1 and Formula E car events, where the emphasis is on the driver’s capabilities rather than throwing money at technology.

Each team has the same one-design boat to work with – the Racebird – a 7 meter (23 ft) foiling hull built by Seabird Technologies and designed by their Founder and Chairman, Sophi Horne. Victory Marine and Mercury Racing provide a 150 kW (200 brake horsepower) electric outboard and Kreisel supplies the 35kWh batteries. High speed charging is done with stations provided by QiOn.

The top speed is 90 kmh ( 50 knots / 55 mph), but since the races are also about precision and coordination, Simrad and C-MAP systems ensure navigational accuracy and situational awareness.

There are nine teams participating, owned by owned by famous high achievers in the worlds of sports, entertainment and industry: actor Will Smith, singer Marc Anthony and DJ/producer Steve Aoki, Rafael Nadal (tennis), Tom Brady (American football), Virat Kohli (cricket), Didier Drogba (football) and Marcelo Claure from the world of entrepreneurship.

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Watch the live stream (open in YouTube to see full E1 Channel and other races)

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A quick primer on the rules

Each team has a female driver and male driver who race in all the rounds, but there is not a specific female race and male race, the teams are free to put either pilot in any race. The team’s combined times and placings for each leg determine the number of points won for the Championship, with 20 points for the winner, 16 for second place and going down to a single point for the ninth place finisher. 

The race course is set out with electronic markers and includes an area designated as the ‘long lap’ where the pilot has to go outside of the standard loop for one of the laps (whenever they choose). Each boat is permitted one energy ‘boost’, used strategically for overtaking another boat or for the leader to extend the gap over the second place boat. 

The races take place over a weekend. On Day One there are three sets of Qualifying races, with each team getting two sessions in order to allow both the female and male pilots to set a time. After qualifying, the teams are split into three groups of 3, racing against each other in 6 semi-final races.

The top team in each group automatically goes to the final, while the second-place finishers battle in a Playoff race for the last spot.

On Day Two the third-place finishers race in an Eliminator race, with the last-place finisher placing 9th for the event. The bottom two teams in the Playoff and the top two teams in the Eliminator then compete in the Place Race, for positions 5 through 9. The top four teams compete in the Final, which consists of the combined results of Super Final 1 and Super Final 2.

Team Brady the one to beat

In its first season E1 raced at some of the world’s most famous and glamorous locations, including Monaco, Puerto Banus in Spain and Italy’s Venice and Lake Como. The inaugural season wrapped up with NFL legend Tom Brady’s Team Brady being crowned champions ahead of the Will Smith-owned Westbrook Racing and Marc Anthony’s Team Miami powered by Magnus.

The races return to Jeddah (January 24-25), Monaco (July 19-20) and Lake Como (August 23-24.) Two new race locations are Doha, Qatar (February 22-23) and Miami (November 8-9), where the championship will wind up with its first-ever North America race. There are four other dates and locations between Jeddah and Miami yet to be confirmed.

The E1 electric boat racing series is sanctioned and overseen by the UMI (Union Internationale Motonautique), the world governing body for all powerboating activities– since 1922.

New this year, E1 is part of the Electric 360 partnership, joining the Formula E road races run in World Cities like Tokyo, London and Shanghai, and the Extreme E radical off-road EV racing series. The ‘Principal Partner’ of Electric 360 is the sovereign wealth fund of Saudi Arabia, PIF (Public Investment Fund صندوق الاستثمارات العامة).

Websites:

E1 Series    Seabird Technologies   Mercury Racing    Kreisel

Inaugural Season Final Standings

PLC	TEAM	OWNER	FEMALE	MALE	PTS
1	Team Brady	Tom Brady	Emma Kimiläinen	Sam Coleman	71
2	Westbrook Racing	Will Smith	Sara Price	Lucas Ordóñez	60
3	Team Miami powered by Magnus	Marc Anthony	Anna Glennon	Erik Stark	53
4	Team Rafa	Rafael Nadal	Cris Lazarraga	Tom Chiappe	51
5	Team Brazil by Claure Group	Marcelo Claure	Catie Munnings	Timmy Hansen	44
6	Team Drogba	Didier Drogba	Oban Duncan	Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq	44
7	Team Blue Rising	Virat Kohli	Lisa Caussin Battaglia	Phelim Kavanagh	31
8	Aoki Racing Team	Steve Aoki	Mashael Alobaidan	Saud Ahmed	25
9	Sergio Perez E1 Team	Sergio Perez	Vicky Piria	Dani Clos	14

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2025 Standings after Race 1: Jeddah

PLC	TEAM	OWNER	FEMALE	MALE	PTS
1	Aoki Racing Team	Steve Aoki	Mashael Alobaidan	Dani Clos	39
2	Team Rafa	Rafael Nadal	Cris Lazarraga	Tom Chiappe	30
3	Team Blue Rising	Virat Kohli	Sara Misir Battaglia	John Peeters	24
4	Westbrook Racing	Will Smith	Sara Price	Lucas Ordóñez	19
5	Team Brady	Tom Brady	Emma Kimiläinen	Sam Coleman	44
6	Team Miami powered by Magnus	Marc Anthony	Anna Glennon	Erik Stark	44
7	Team Brazil by Claure Group	Marcelo Claure	Marit Stromoy	Timmy Hansen	31
8	Team AlUla	LeBron James	Catie Munnings	Rusty Wyatt	25
9	Team Drogba	Didier Drogba	Oban Duncan	Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq	14