Extreme E teams go head-to-head at Goodwood Festival of Speed
Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings
Extreme E is set to return to Goodwood Festival of Speed this weekend, where two of its teams will take to the infamous Hill and battle it out on track in a unique event.
Goodwood Festival of Speed is a celebration of motorsport and car culture, featuring some of the most famous names and vehicles of historic motorsport. Extreme E already has strong ties to the festival, having unveiled its pioneering Odyssey 21 here in 2019.
The sport for purpose championship will now be returning to the Festival of Speed with two teams, Veloce Racing and Genesys Andretti United Extreme E, battling it out in a head-to-head shootout. A battle against genders, this shootout has been uniquely designed for the female drivers to compete against their male counterparts.
Taking the wheel of Genesys Andretti United’s Odyssey 21 will be both of their current Extreme E drivers, Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen.
Hansen said: “We can’t wait to drive up the hill, it has such a legendary status. It’s going to be a lot of fun. It’s fantastic that we can showcase our electric car at such an iconic event, sharing the road with so many other iconic cars.”
Munnings commented: I’m so excited to be back at Goodwood this year. It’s my first time in a while that I’ll be heading there and focusing purely on the driving side, rather than presenting at the event. We can’t wait to show off the car to all the fans and have some fun doing it.”
While they retain their drivers for the shootout, Veloce Racing have selected two guest drivers from their driver pool to pilot their car for this event.
Two-time W Series champion and Extreme E Season 1’s Veloce Racing driver Jamie Chadwick will be back behind the wheel this weekend. He said: “It will be great to get back in the Veloce Racing Extreme E car again and to be with everyone from the Veloce family. I was able to drive the car at a recent sponsorship event, which was great, but to take the car up the prestigious Goodwood Hillclimb will be a huge honour. The Festival of Speed is always such a fantastic event and I’m really looking forward to seeing the fans, as well as some familiar faces, there.”
Joining Chadwick will be Max Fewtrell for his first experience of the Odyssey 21. Fewtrell, a British racing driver previously competing in Formula 3 and former champion of British Formula 4 and Formula Renault Eurocup, took to Twitch to stream and play games with friends during the pandemic and immediately grew a mass following. In June 2021, he joined gaming and lifestyle brand Quadrant, set up by Formula One star Lando Norris, becoming one of the team’s core content players.
Fewtrell said: “I am delighted and privileged to be given the opportunity to take the Veloce Racing XE car up the famous Goodwood hill. It’s been two years out of a racing car for me, and I’m itching to get back on a track and feel that buzz again. It’s going to be a mega event and we look forward to welcoming many of the Veloce and Quadrant fans over the course of the four days.”
Drivers will receive two Hillclimb runs each day with practices each morning. The head-to-head time-trial shootout at the Festival of Speed will see Munnings face off against Fewtrell on Saturday’s Qualifying (16:10 BST on 25 June), with Hansen up against Chadwick on the Sunday Shootout (15:30 BST on 26 June).
James Taylor, chief championship officer at Extreme E, said: “We are thrilled to be returning to the Goodwood Festival of Speed and are excited for this head-to-head duel between two of our teams, which we hope will be an exciting feature of the weekend for the Goodwood audience.
“Though our Odyssey 21s are designed for off road terrains, we have seen in our brief history that our cars can tackle any conditions and it will be quite a sight to see the drivers battle it out on the Hillclimb.”
Extreme E’s Goodwood Shootout will be broadcast on Sky Sports F1 and ITV1, or alternatively on the Goodwood website or YouTube livestream.