E1 Series, Tom Brady’s team wins the 2024 season

The first season of the E1 UIM World Championship, the first global electric racing boat circuit, has its winner and some news. Climbing onto the highest podium is the team of Tom Brady, the American football champion, with the drivers Sal Coleman – Welsh – and Emma Kimiläinen – Finnish –who scored three victories and finished with an 11-point advantage over their closest rival, actor Will Smith‘s Westbrook Racing, second in the standings ahead of Marc Anthony‘s Team Miami powered by Magnus, who finished in third position. The two Team Brady drivers proved to be more adept at managing the RaceBird, this 50-knot fireball born from the vision of Sophi Horne and Brunello Acampora, a single-seater that flies on water thanks to foils and which requires from those who drive it a well-calibrated mix of courage and balance between lift and power in order to achieve the perfect set-up and therefore full speed.

The circuit

Summing up the E1 Series is quite simple. The circuit was born from an idea by Alejandro Agag and Rodi Basso and developed thanks also to the initial support of PIFthe Saudi sovereign fund, with a view to transforming and pushing water mobility forward towards a more sustainable future (E1 is part of the Electric 360 partnership created by PIF at the beginning of this year, which also involves Formula E and Extreme E). The boat is the first fully electric boat in the world attributable to professional powerboating.

Agag and Basso have attracted sponsors, but also names from sport and the international smart set, who have invested in the stables and the circuit. In addition to Brady, tennis champion Rafael Nadal, Chelsea football legend Didier Drogba, F1’s Sergio Perez, global cricket icon Virat Kohli, Grammy-winning artist Marc Anthony, DJ Steve Aoki and tech billionaire and philanthropist Marcelo Claure. For a total of nine teams.

Then, the creation of the RaceBird, in Italy, and the implementation of the circuit, which also means people who work there, starting from the reviews and arriving at the shore team. So, the calendar. Which underwent some changes during construction. The E1 Series has landed this year at Jeddah, Port Banus/Marbella, Venice, Monaco and Lake Como at Villa d’Este.

Next season

There has already been an announcement about the first new stages for the 2025 season, which will be in Qatar from 21 to 22 February, in Doha. The Corinthia Yacht Club of The Pearl Island will host the circuit. The GP will be called Visit Qatar E1 Doha GP and was born from the agreement between E1 Series and Visit Qatar and United Development Company.

In view of next season it must also be said that the organisation has opened applications for the Pilot Academy, which will be hosted by the Yacht Club de Monaco and which will allow – as Prince Albert of Monaco says “to identify the next generation of pilots for the second season of the E1”. “YCM’s training center, La Belle Classe Academy, is proud to partner with E1 to provide innovative training to its professional riders. Our goal is to train the new generation of drivers in these new racing formats and prepare them to integrate the latest technologies. This initiative marks a new visionary approach to powerboating, suited to the future of our sport and is part of the collective approach of Monaco, capital of Advanced Yachting, led by the YCM”, explains Bernard d’Alessandri, general secretary of the Yacht Club de Monaco.