Formula 1 leading team McLaren Racing will enter a team in the Extreme E all-terrain electric championship from next year.
The British firm is one of the most famous in F1 history, with 182 Grand Prix victories and 12 driver’s championships since entering the sport in 1966. It has also expanded to the Indycar series the season last with the American team Arrow McLaren SP.
Extreme E currently consists of nine teams, which are to use electric SUVs with identical spatial structure of 536 hp. Each team uses a single car for a male and female driver, who must exchange halfway through each race.
McLaren said its Extreme E project would help strengthen its sustainability policy while attracting new fans and “growing the McLaren Racing brand and franchise”.
McLaren Racing boss Zak Brown said: “McLaren has always been at the forefront and has never been afraid to push new limits. This new venture is true to our roots of participation in a variety of categories, innovation and bravery. Extreme E is breaking new ground in motorsport as a force for good to tackle some of the biggest challenges our world faces today and in the future. “
Brown added that “F1 will always remain at the center of our world” and that the new project “will complement and help support all of our programs”.
Extreme E places strict limits on the number of people each team can employ, and McLaren has said the Extreme E will be formed from existing staff outside of the F1 program and newly recruited specialists.
Woking has experience in electric motorsport, having developed and supplied battery-powered powertrains for the Gen1 and Gen2 Formula E electric single-seaters.
Although part of the McLaren group, the racing division is separate from McLaren Automotive.
McLaren joins a diverse lineup of teams in Extreme E, including operations led by other Indycar Ganassi Racing and Andretti United teams. Cupra leads a team in association with touring car and rallycross specialist Abt, while F1 champions Sir Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg and Jenson Button all have their own teams.
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Source: www.autocar.co.uk
This notice was published: 2021-06-11 11:22:47
