E1 Electric Speedboat Series comes to Monaco for Race #4

July 26, 2024 Jeff Butler 0 Comments E1, E1 - 2024, Kreisel, Mercury Racing, Monaco, QiOn, Seabird

The first Season of the UIM E1 Electric Speedboat Series is now halfway through, with the fourth race taking place this weekend in Monaco.

Click here to go the recap and update of Race 4

If you are not yet familiar with E1, a quick primer

There are nine teams competing for the Series Championship, each owned by famous personalities from the worlds of sport, music, movies and business. Each of the teams has a male driver and female driver, who come from a variety of racing backgrounds, including rally cars, jet skis, motorcycles WRX…and even powerboats!

There is a chart further on in tis article with the names of the teams, their owners, the drivers and current standings for the championship.

As in Formula 1 car racing, 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. For the E1 it is the Racebird, a 7 meter (23 ft) foiling hull, built by Seabird Technologies and designed by their Founder and Chairman, Sophi Horne.

Over the past two years Seabird worked with Victory Marine and Mercury Racing to outfit the Racebirds with a 150 kW (200 brake horsepower) electric outboard and 35kWh batteries by Kreisel. High speed charging is done with stations provided by QiOn.

All of this translates into top speeds of 90 kmh ( 50 knots / 55 mph), and because the races are not just about speed, but also about precision and coordination, Simrad and C-MAP systems ensure navigational accuracy and situational awareness.

There are 6 races in the series. all except one are offshore events. The first took place in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, in February, with the event then moving to Venice, Italy followed by Puerto Banús, Spain. After this weekend’s Monaco races the teams will go their first inland water event on Lake Como in Italy and finish up in Hong Kong in November.

»» Click here for local ways to watch this weekend’s Monaco E1 Series event

Each race weekend consists of a test session, then a head-to-head qualifying session with the bottom team being eliminated, then the quarter finals, semi finals and finals. The male and female drivers compete for each team in every stage, their times added up for the team time. Points are awarded 20 for 1st, then 20, 17, 13, 10, 8, 5, 3, 2 and 1 for the bottom finisher.

Jedda: Top three places went to Team Brady, Team Miami and Team Rafa.
Venice: Team Brady, Team Brazil, Westbrook Racing
Puerto Banús: Team Miami, Westbrook Racing, Team Brazil.
Coming into Monaco, the top 5 teams are: Team Miami, Team Brady, Team Brazil and Westbrook Racing tied for 3rd), and Team Drogba.

»» Click here to see replays on the E1 Series YouTube channel

Team owners, drivers and standings pre-Monaco

Standings AFTER the Monaco BRETT Race are at the bottom of this page

TEAM	OWNER	FEMALE	MALE	STDG	PTS
Team Miami powered by Magnus	Marc Anthony, multiple Grammy Award winning artist	Anna Glennon	Erik Stark	1	45
Team Brady	Tom Brady, 7-time Super Bowl Champion	Emma Kimiläinen	Sam Coleman	2	42
Team Brazil by Claure Group	Marcelo Claure, Founder & CEO of Claure Group	Catie Munnings	Timmy Hansen	3	30
Westbrook Racing	Will Smith, Hollywood actor, musician and film producer	Sara Price	Lucas Ordóñez	3	30
Team Drogba	Didier Drogba, 4-time Premier League Winner	Oban Duncan	Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq	4	23
Team Blue Rising	Virat Kohli, all-time run-leader in Indian Cricket Premier League	Lisa Caussin Battaglia	Phelim Kavanagh	5	22
Team Rafa	Rafael Nadal, 22 time Grand Slam Tennis Champion	Cris Lazarraga	Tom Chiappe	6	21
Aoki Racing Team	Steve Aoki, EDM DJ, Producer	Mashael Alobaidan	Saud Ahmed	7	11
Sergio Perez E1 Team	Sergio Perez, 6-time Grand Prix Winning F1 Racing Driver	Vicky Piria	Dani Clos	8	11

The top seeds are obviously in better position for this weekend than the others right now, but a 20 point first place finish can shift those standing quickly, especially when only 8 points separate the 3rd and 6th place teams.

In Monaco the races will take place just outside the marina of the Yacht Club de Monaco, the same spot where the Club hosted the international powerboat races in 1904. Today, just as then, the event is set against the stunning backdrop of the principality. The major difference is that the E1 Series will be an awful lot quieter than those combustion engines!

Saturday is test and Qualifying Day and Sunday is the Quarter Finals, Semis and Finals. Both days start at 10:30 AM Monaco CEST. Click »» here to find out how to watch everything where you live

This is the second time in a month that the Club and Course will see historic electric boat events. The trials and races for the Monaco Energy Boat Challenge were held here the first week in July. Until the Opening Ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympics, that had been the largest on-water collection of electric boats ever. The E1 Series will be equally historic.

Read: 2024 Monaco Energy Boat Challenge an electrifying success

Read: Electric boats in historic Paris Olympic Opening Ceremony

The race weekend is the first since E1 launched a pilot academy, “a comprehensive talent identification programme designed to uncover a new generation of pilots for its second season”, and cryptocurrency meme token BRETT has signed on as title sponsor. The race is officially “E1 Monaco 2024 presented by BRETT”.

Introducing the E1 Blue Impact Championship

The Monaco weekend also introduces a new aspect of the E1 Series, the Blue Impact Championship. One of the driving forces behind E1 is a commitment not just to advance the technologies that will help decarbonize marine propulsion, but also to contribute to healing our coastal waters and ecosystems for present and future generations.

The E1 Blue Impact Championship forms part of its Blue Impact Programme, in which the racing Championship collaborates with host cities, partners, NGOs and scientists to address coastal habitat issues through knowledge transfer meetings, panels and workshops

“The launch of the E1 Blue Impact Championship provides a blueprint and pathway for each of our participating teams to become active partners in our mission, and for them to be acknowledged for their innovations and inventiveness in supporting appropriate initiatives. It’s an exciting challenge for both us and the teams and provides a new and progressive arena in which to compete.”
Professor Carlos M. Duarte
E1 Chief Scientist and E1 Blue Impact Champions Committee Chair

For the Blue Impact Championship, teams climb the rankings by taking action in bids to secure a blue future through activations such as support for aquatic conservation and restoration programmes and helping advance research and technology to protect marine habitats.

At the end of each season, fans will vote for the team to be named Blue Impact Champion. These votes, which account for a third of the total score, will be supplemented with the votes of an expert jury, made up of renowned ocean scientists and conservationists, who will account for the remainder of the score.

So, beginning in Monaco, there will be two championships on the line. Drivers, press your ignition buttons! Good luck to all!

E1 Seabird Technologies Mercury Racing Kreisel QiOn

Update: Recap and Results of Race 4: Monaco (from the E1 website)

Team Brady back to winning ways in Monaco

The team – owned by NFL legend Tom Brady who was in Monaco to witness the win – now returns to the summit of the UIM E1 World Championship standings after their early domination of the inaugural series.

Team Brady pilots Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen struggled in qualifying on Saturday but were able to perform at the right time on race day, soaking up the pressure from the fleet across two dramatic final races.

Team Drogba, watched on by owner and African football legend Didier Drogba, finished in second place to secure its first podium place of the season. They were followed narrowly by Rafael Nadal’s Team Rafa in third which had started the day in pole position.

The fast, furious and at times nerve-wracking Finals saw five teams go head-to-head: Team Brady, Team Rafa, Team Blue Rising, Team Drogba and Westbrook Racing.

In the first Finals race, Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq of Team Drogba expertly secured first place with a gap of over 15 seconds ahead of Team Brady. Westbrook Racing followed by Team Blue Rising and Team Rafa requiring a big turn in the second final leg to secure a podium spot.

The second Finals race saw Team Rafa, piloted by Tom Chiappe, secure a stunning victory that was enough to propel the team onto the podium for the first time since Jeddah.

With the combined results of both Finals, Team Brady’s two second place finishes earned them a top spot on the podium. In a ceremony following the race, the team were awarded their trophy by HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco who had attended the first-of-its-kind event.

Standings Post Monaco BRETT

TEAM	OWNER	FEMALE	MALE	STDG	PTS
Team Brady	Tom Brady	Emma Kimiläinen	Sam Coleman	1	63
Team Miami powered by Magnus	Marc Anthony	Anna Glennon	Erik Stark	2	50
Westbrook Racing	Will Smith	Sara Price	Lucas Ordóñez	3	40
Team Drogba	Didier Drogba	Oban Duncan	Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq	4	39
Team Rafa	Rafael Nadal	Cris Lazarraga	Tom Chiappe	5	35
Team Brazil by Claure Group	Marcelo Claure	Catie Munnings	Timmy Hansen	6	31
Team Blue Rising	Virat Kohli	Lisa Caussin Battaglia	Phelim Kavanagh	6	29
Aoki Racing Team	Steve Aoki	Mashael Alobaidan	Saud Ahmed	8	14
Sergio Perez E1 Team	Sergio Perez	Vicky Piria	Dani Clos	9	13