‘Race to Hong Kong’: E1 series confirms 2024 calendar racing electric boats around the globe

The teams are set, and the race locations are now locked. Infant electric boat racing league, E1, sits a month and a half away from its inaugural season and has shared the 2024 race calendar that begins in Saudi Arabia en route to a finale in a newly announced location – Hong Kong.

It’s been a busy week for the UIM E1 World Championship as it moves into 2024, a mere 40-something days from its first-ever electric boat racing grand prix. Originally planned to begin in 2023 with eight co-ed racing teams, E1 founders Rodi Basso and Alejandro Agag announced the season start would be pushed to January 2024 when it shared the initial race calendar this past June.

While there were some “TBDs” on the schedule, E1 had confirmed the inaugural race season would kick off in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, with additional grand prix events planned for Venice, Italy, Monaco, and Rotterdam, Netherlands – an area the league has previously used to showcase its all-electric RaceBird technology.

At the time, E1 had only confirmed four teams – well short of the eight promised, which should eventually expand to a 12-team bracket in future seasons. Since then, we saw E1 add new teams led by owners Tom Brady and Steve Aoki before delaying the start of season 1 yet again to February 2024.

Cricket superstar Virat Kohli signed on as an E1 owner in October, and just this week, musician Marc Anthony was announced as the owner of Team Miami, rounding out the competitors for the 2024 season.

With eight teams locked in, E1 has shared its official race calendar for season 1.

E1 adds Hong Kong to 2024 race calendar as the finale

Per a release today, UIM’s E1 World Championship is set to begin in Jeddah on February 2, with grand prix events to follow in six additional countries throughout 2024. Here’s the official E1 race calendar:

• February 2-4 – Jeddah Grand Prix
• May 11-12 – Venice Grand Prix
• June 1-2 – Puerto Banús Grand Prix
• June 29-30 – Geneva Grand Prix
• July 26-27 – Monaco Grand Prix
• September 7-8 – Rotterdam Grand Prix
• November 9-10 – Hong King Grand Prix (Finale)

New to the calendar compared to what was shared over the summer are new GP events in Puerto Banús, Geneva, Monaco, and Hong Kong. The league shared that Victoria Harbor in Hong Kong will host the finale of the first three seasons of the E1 World Championship through 2026. E1 co-founder and CEO Rodi Basso spoke:

I share the pride of everyone at E1 as we announce this spectacular calendar of events for our first season. These cities are all world renowned for their cultural, touristic and sporting offerings and will each provide our fans with a unique and unforgettable experience. Our race locations not only will provide a stunning backdrop for our RaceBirds, but they align with our goals of improving the ecosystems in which we race and accelerating marine electrification.

Season one of E1 is shaping up to be a global event as its race calendar will showcase electric boats competing across Europe, the Middle East, and now Asia. More is also in the works, as the league has already shared plans for its first US-based race event in Miami during season two.

Although the league has previously said the eight confirmed teams will be the only ones competing, E1’s latest release says up to ten teams of male and female RaceBird pilots will compete in season one. Perhaps we’ll see another owner or two announced before February 2? We shall see.

In the meantime, we can expect to see the first-ever electric boat racing action from Jeddah in 2024.