Extreme E‘s final season will end differently from planned. On Friday, the series announced the last three rounds in Sardinia and Phoenix have been cancelled and new dates are currently being sought out.
XE officially described itself as “reworking its Season 4 calendar” rather than simply cutting the season short. In other words, the series intends to still finish out the year and Extreme E era with a race of some kind before débuting Extreme H in 2025.
“As we continue our transition to Extreme H, we are fully committed to becoming the world’s first hydrogen racing series,” said series boss Alejandro Agag. “The investment and progress in the innovations are in full flow. Excitement grows every day as the industry continues to turn its head towards the possibilities hydrogen presents.
“In this current year of evolution, we all want to find a conclusion to Extreme E, which enables us to finish what we started, whilst at the same time, allows us to commit maximum resource into our Extreme H developments.
“We thank the Automobile Club d’Italia, Regione Sardegna, and the Italian military along with our Phoenix team, for all their support and understanding in recent weeks, and keep the door open to future collaboration. We are working closely with our teams and stakeholders to find alternative solutions to fulfil Extreme E’s final season schedule.”
The 2024 season has always been planned to be a transition period for the series ahead of the switch to hydrogen. Even the schedule was still in some flux when it was revealed last December, the second race weekend in July only being listed as taking place in Europe without a confirmed location (later revealed to be Dumfries, Scotland).
Sardinia was scheduled to host back-to-back weekends of the Island X Prix, a trend that began in 2022 due to circumstances, on 14/15 and 21/22 September. It was supposed to be a permanent fixture in 2024 after the 2022 and 2023 editions came about due to late schedule changes.
Phoenix would have been the final race for Extreme E on 23/24 November and the first foray into North America with the Valley X Prix.
In the meantime, the series is focusing on continuing development of Extreme H’s Pioneer 25 car. It underwent live testing in Scotland and was supposed to do so in Sardinia before Friday’s announcement. Teams are expected to receive the car by the end of the year.
“This is disappointing news as the team was looking forward to getting back on track soon, challenging for podiums and wins and delivering great moments for our fans and partners,” reads a statement from McLaren XE, who was fifth in points after the Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia and the Hydro X Prix in Scotland. “Extreme E has always provided McLaren Racing a perfect platform to push the sport forward with its unique gender-equal driver pairing format, and its environmental focus.
“We will await further information and updates from Extreme E.”