Will Smith, Rafael Nadal teams finish 1-2 at Lake Como E1 electric boat races

The fifth race of the inaugural season of the E1 electric boat race series took place at stunning Lake Como this past weekend, with the Westbrook Racing Team owned by actor Will Smith placing first and Rafael Nadal’s Team Rafa coming in second. The team owned by former NFL quarterback Tom Brady placed fifth at Como, but retained its first place position in the run for the season championship.

High achieving owners

The E1 Series features nine teams owned by famous high achievers in the worlds of sports, entertainment and industry. In addition to Smith, Nadal and Brady, the six other teams are owned by international footballer Didier Drogba, legendary Indian cricketer Virat Kohli, F1 driver Sergio Perez, Brazilian entrepreneur Marcelo Claure and from the music sphere, DJ / Producer Steve Aoki and multi-Grammy Award winner Marc Anthony.

The electric boats in the E1 Series are the 7 meter (23 ft) one design ‘Racebird’. The  foiling hulls are built by Seabird Technologies and designed by their Founder and Chairman, Sophi Horne. They are powered with 150 kW (200 brake horsepower) electric outboards from Victory Marine and Mercury Racing and 35kWh batteries by Kreisel.

Each team has a female and male driver who race in all the rounds –  Qualifying, Semi-Finals, Race Offs and Finals – 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. 

E1 electric boat races feature male and female pilots

In each five lap race the pilots are required to have one long lap (the green lanes on the image above) and permitted one energy ‘boost’, used strategically for overtaking another boat or for the leader extending the gap over the second place boat.   

For a more detailed look at the teams and rules, read the Plugboats article about the Monaco race held in July:

Read: E1 electric speedboat series comes to Monaco for race 4

This weekend’s races – the first held on a lake – took place on the waters off the iconic Villa d’Este hotel, which has been the host for the past three years of its own Electric Yachting regatta that celebrates the bond between Alessandro Volta (namesake of  the volt electric unit) and the nearby city of Como. This year’s Electric Yachting event will take place September 29.

The Villa is committed to electric yachting year round. Guests can rent the ‘e-Commuter’ handcrafted wooden boat by Cantiere Ernesto Riva that was a winner in the 2021 Gussies electric boat awards. The boatyard also electrified a classic vaporina that is used by the hotel as a shuttle and cruise boat. 

Team Brady going for the win

Coming out of Monaco and going into the fifth race weekend at the Villa, Team Brady had finished first in three out of four events –  Jedda, Venice and Monaco – with Marc Anthony’s Team Miami in second and Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing third in the overalls.

Team Rafa has also had consistent finishes throughout the season, but could never get to the top of the podium. Team Drogba’s second place finish was a bit of a surprise coming out of Monaco that has added to the intrigue and competitiveness of the overall standings. 

Championship Standings going into Lake Como

PLC	TEAM	OWNER	PTS
1	Brady	Tom Brady	63
2	Team Miami powered by Magnus	Marc Anthony	50
3	Westbrook	Will Smith	40
4	Drogba	Didier Drogba	39
5	Rafa	Rafael Nadal	35

In the qualifying laps held Saturday morning in Como, Team Brady pilots Emma Kimiläinen and Sam Coleman clinched pole position over Team Rafa in second place and Team Miami in third.

It looked like that session might set the table for a fourth Brady win, but they were handed a penalty in the Semi Finals on Saturday for unauthorized work on their foils. As a consequence, the team – in both female and male races – was required to complete an additional long lap, adding 543 m (1/3 of a mile) to their race.

Surprising Finals

Still, Team Brady needed only a third place finish to clinch the Championship. It was not to be, however. In Final 1, Westwood took and kept an early lead throughout. Much of the excitement in the race came from a flurry of jockeying between Team Rafa pilot Chris Lazarraga (the only female in the race) and Team Aoki pilot Saud Ahmed.

At the end of Final 1, the big surprise was that the two teams that had been dominant in both qualifying and the Semi-Finals were in 4th and 5th. Result: Westwood Racing, Team Brazil, Team Aoki, Team Rafa and Team Brady.

Onto Final 2, where the crowd was eager to see if Team Brady could claw their way back in. The races started with all boats speeding along the first straightaway, with team Aoki going off the course on the first turn and never being able to catch up.

Team Brady then jumped out to an early lead but pilot Emma Kimiläinen continued the weekend’s run of bad luck, hitting one of the race markers on lap 2 as Team Rafa slipped into first position. Results of Final 2: Rafa, Westbrook, Brazil, Brady, Aoki.

Final results of the weekend: Westbrook, Rafa, Brazil, Aoki…and Team Brady in fifth.

Combined Final Results of Como

PLC	TEAM	OWNER	PTS
1	Westbrook Racing	Will Smith	20
2	Team Rafa	Rafael Nadal	16
3	Team Brazil by Claure Group	Marcelo Claure	13
4	Aoki Racing Team	Steve Aoki	11
5	Team Brady	Tom Brady	8

With one race weekend left in the season, this is now a very interesting scenario.

Theoretically, if Team Brady were to be disqualified and get 0 points, any of the next four teams could grab 20 points and finish as the Champion. Realistically, though, top place is  between Team Brady and Will Smith’s Westbrook Racing, with the second to fifth spots up for grabs between any of the current top six. In either case, ti should make for an exciting end to this very successful first season of the E1 Series and bring a lot of attention to electric boats.

Season Standings Post Lake Como 

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

E1   Seabird Technologies  Mercury Racing   Kreisel

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