Saudi Gazette report

RIYADH — Saudi Arabia’s historic city of AlUla will witness on Saturday the launch of the inaugural Extreme E Desert-X Prix, featuring electric SUVs competing across the Saudi desert landscape.

The two-day motor racing event is being organized by the Ministry of Sports in cooperation with the Saudi Automobile and Motorcycle Federation.

The race will be held with the participation of nine international teams and 18 male and female drivers, as part of the initiatives of the Quality of Life Program, one of the goals of the Saudi Vision 2030.

Extreme E is a new racing series in which electric cars compete in destinations affected by climate change around the world, and encourage reliance on electric vehicles in pursuit of a better future for the planet.

The inaugural 2021 season will be held in 5 different regions across 4 continents to highlight different environmental issues. These destinations include "The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia-Al-Ula", "Dakar-Senegal", "Greenland", "Amazon-Brazil", and "Patagonia-Argentina".

At each race, there will be two days of racing — Saturday and Sunday. On Saturday each team races twice in qualifying, while Sunday sees the semi-finals, the Crazy Race, and the final.

Each race is two laps — one driven by the female and one by the male. All results are based on race finishing position, not race time.

In a press statement, Minister of Sports Prince Abdulaziz Bin Turki Al-Faisal said: "We are all proud in Saudi Arabia to host the first Extreme E race in the historical AlUla Governorate to continue a new journey in the world of motor racing after the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia succeeded in hosting the Dakar Rally 2021, and, recently, Formula E, in addition to Formula 1, which will be held at the end of the year".

"The organization of these activities reflects the great support and interest we are receiving from our wise leadership, and the close follow-up of Crown Prince Muhammad Bin Salman, which has resulted in the Kingdom's hosting of the most prominent and important international sporting events, to consolidate the spirit of competition and attract the world's attention toward our country, in a way that contributes to motivating societies to pay attention to different sports", he added.