NEOM (SAUDI ARABIA)- : The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team will return next weekend (February 19th–20th) to Saudi Arabia’s desert for the start of the second season of Extreme E. The world’s first sustainable off-road motor racing championship will inaugurate its new edition in the vicinity of Neom, the world’s first 100% technological and emission-free urban development, which will run on desalinated water as well as solar and wind power.
The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team is committed to the continuity of the project and will once again have Carlos Sainz and Laia Sanz behind the wheel of their Odyssey21, the championship’s 100% electric SUV. The drivers will compete against nine other teams, made up of some of the biggest figures in the motorsport world.
Following the experience it gained last year, ACCIONA’s team aims to fight for the trophy in the five rounds of the championship, which is designed to give visibility to the impact of climate change, as well as to raise awareness of the need to tackle it and accelerate the transition to a low-carbon economy.
Throughout his career, Carlos Sainz has won two WRC championships and three Dakar Rally titles. He has also been awarded the Princess of Asturias Prize for Sports. Laia Sanz’s track record includes fourteen Trial World Championships, six Enduro World Championships and eleven titles in the women’s motorcycle category of the Dakar Rally. Sanz ranked the highest ever among Spanish female car drivers in the Dakar Rally in her debut this year.
ACCIONA, which already led the first team capable of completing the Dakar Rally with an 100% electric vehicle in 2017, consolidates its commitment to a new system of motor racing that demonstrates the reliability of electric mobility and the competitiveness of renewable energy in one of the most demanding races on the planet.
The company thus reinforces its social commitment to sustainable development, gender equality and the fight against climate change through mass sport events.