The all-electric off-road racing series Extreme E has announced that its first race will take place in Greenland in 2021. Organizers are currently reconnoitering sites for four more races in other regions of the world.
The three-day event, which will be the first-ever motorsport
race in the Arctic country, will take place on the sandbars in view of the
Russell Glacier in Kangerlussuaq, in the western region of the island. “The
routes will be designed to incorporate existing obstacles and features with
elevation changes and jumps without the need to adapt the environment,” according
to Extreme E. “Track designers are being tasked with selecting course options
which provide the most challenging, exciting racing action whilst crucially
generating no negative impact from either environmental or social perspectives.”
“As well as being a serious motor racing series, Extreme E has a strong sporting purpose to promote the adoption of electric mobility in the fight to lower global emission levels, an issue we can no longer ignore, especially here in Greenland,” said Formula E CEO Alejandro Agag. “Together with Greenland’s government, backed by climate experts from Cambridge University, we will create a sensational sporting competition with the most incredible natural backdrop, which, crucially, will double as a catalyst for positive awareness, education, and scientific research, aiming to leave only positive impact behind when we depart.”
Jess Svane, Greenland’s Minister for Industry, Energy and
Research, said, “We are very pleased with Extreme E’s vision to highlight
climate change. This correlates perfectly with our own green agenda. Today
around 70 percent of all public energy supply is from renewable energy
resources and we are firmly committed to increase this further in the years to
come.”
Extreme E is developing plans to track and monitor teams’
emission levels in each location, and may offer sporting and financial
incentives to those which achieve the lowest overall outputs.
Source: Formula E
Source: Electric Vehicles Magazine
