2024 E1 Series Championship

The 2024 UIM E1 World Championship was the inaugural season of the E1 Series electric powerboat racing series. The season launched on 2 February in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.[citation needed]

Team Brady were crowned as the champions on October 29th.

Calendar

The season was originally supposed to begin in 2023, with a goal to have about one race per month. A need for more teams caused delays to the start, with the first calendar being officially released on June 8, 2023. The provisional calendar had the first race set to take place during January 2024 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with the season finale in Rotterdam, Netherlands in September 2024. On December 20, 2023, a new calendar was released, which saw the series expand to three regions (Europe, the Middle East, and Asia), with the premiere getting pushed back to February. This version also featured a race in Geneva, Switzerland, which has since been removed from the calendar. On June 26, 2024, a race was announced for Lake Como, which replaced Rotterdam as the location of the fifth round. On October 29th, 2024, Team Brady was announced as the champions, ending the season early and forgoing the planned Hong Kong race.

The following events were on the original calendar, but did not appear in the final version.

Race format

A race weekend consists of testing, free practice, and qualifying on the first day, while the semi-finals, play-off race, eliminator race, place race, and finals all take place on the second day.

The first race in Jeddah featured a modified format, as there were only 8 teams. For rounds 2–6, the format was changed to accommodate the extra entry of Westbrook Racing, which brought the total number of teams up to 9.

Qualifying is three sets of three racers, with each team getting two sessions in order to allow both 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. 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.

Teams and drivers

UIM E1 Pilot Academy

The UIM E1 Pilot Academy was created to train a new generation of racers to compete in the E1 Series. Female and male athletes with experience in motorsport, cycling, Esports, extreme sports and high-speed sports were invited to apply. A total of 34 racers took part in the training, with 18 being selected to compete in the inaugural season of the series.

Group 1

• United States Jordan Rand
• United Kingdom Kriss Kyle
• Spain Cris Lazarraga
• India CS Santosh
• Finland Emma Kimiläinen
• United Arab Emirates Ahmad Alfahim

Group 2

• Spain Laia Sanz
• Sweden Timmy Hansen
• Latvia Ieva Millere-Hagin
• Sweden Erik Stark
• Monaco Lisa Caussin Battaglia
• United Kingdom Phelim Kavanagh

Group 3

• United Kingdom Catie Munnings
• Italy Gianluca Carli
• United States Sara Price
• Italy Alex Carella
• United States Alex Pratt
• United Kingdom Lewis Appiagyei

Group 4

• Italy Vicky Piria
• Spain Dani Clos
• United Kingdom Oban Duncan
• Colombia Sebastian Ordonez
• Saudi Arabia Mashael AlObaidan
• Kuwait Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq

Group 5

• Italy Alberto Comparato
• Spain Lucas Ordóñez
• United Kingdom Sam Coleman
• Saudi Arabia Saud Ahmed
• Italy Alex Carella

Group 6

• Monaco Giacomo Sacchi
• Singapore Janice Oo
• Italy Andrea Comella
• Saudi Arabia Rinad Hafez
• Singapore Clemet Tham

Official Entries

• On April 27, 2021 it was announced that the Venice Racing Team, headed by entrepreneur Francesco Pannoli, would be the first team to join the inaugural season of the E1 Series, which was supposed to take place in 2023. The team was still included in competitor lists as late as August 2023, but did not appear on the final roster for the 2024 season.
• Ieva Millere-Hagin, Stefan Hagin, and John Peeters all competed as replacement pilots at certain rounds during the season.

Season summary

Race 1: Jeddah

Team Miami led the qualifying on day 1, earning an extra point in the championship. In the semifinals, Team Brady and Team Rafa topped their respective groups, while Team Miami and Team Blue Rising also qualified for the final. Super Final 1 was led by Team Rafa, followed by Team Miami and Team Brady. In Super Final 2, spray blocked Team Rafa's Cris Lazarraga's view, causing her to cut a corner and take an additional long lap as a penalty. Sam Coleman took the lead of Super Final 2, and clinched the overall final for Team Brady.

Race 2: Venice

Team Miami claimed their second consecutive pole position, while Team Blue Rising failed to set a qualifying time, and both Team Rafa and Aoki Racing Team had one of their session's lap times disqualified. Team Brazil, Team Drogba, and newcomers Westbrook Racing were the three seminfinal winners, earning an automatic spot in the final. Team Brady won the play-off race to clinch the fourth spot in the finals, while Team Checo lost the eliminator race and was therefore out of the place race. Team Brady had a dominant showing, winning Super Final 1 and 2 to earn their second victory in the series.

Race 3: Puerto Banús

Choppy waters at the third event shook up the standings. Team Drogba claimed pole position, while two-time winners Team Brady were eliminated after a power outage in Semifinal 3. Team Blue Rising clinched fourth place overall, but had to withdraw from Super Final 2 after the nose of their craft detached while racing in Super Final 1. The same thing happened to Team Brazil in Super Final 2, while Westbrook Racing stalled mid-race but crossed the finish line in second and picked up an extra point for the fastest lap. Team Miami won their first final, and moved to first in the standings.

Race 4: Monaco

Husband and wife duo Ieva Millere-Hagin and Stefan Hagin subbed in for Team Checo and Team Brazil, respectively. Team Brazil faced issues with their RaceBird during the weekend, ending in last place. Team Rafa claimed their first pole position and first semi-finals win, while Team Brady returned to the top step of the podium, despite taking second in both finals races. Team Aoki and Team Checo both received yellow cards for dangerous driving, the first of the season.

Race 5: Lake Como

Team Westbrook took their first finals victory, as Lucas Ordóñez won Super Final 1. Team Brady's Emma Kimiläinen damaged her left foil when she hit a buoy in Super Final 2, which meant Sara Price's second-place finish clinched the victory for Westbrook.

Results and standings

Scoring system

Points are awarded to all 9 teams. An additional point is given to the fastest team in qualifying, and the team with the fastest lap. For the first race, because there were only 8 teams, the point system was slightly different.

Teams' Championship standings

Drivers' Championship standings

Notes