► McLaren joining Extreme E next year
► Woking’s expansion into more motorsport series continues
► Its entry will enlist the support of Multimatic
McLaren is joining the Extreme E championship next year, and it’ll be doing so with Multimatic as a partner. Extreme E is an all-electric, off-road championship and teams field identical cars. The partnership means McLaren will now use Multimatic’s Vehicle Dynamics Centre to prepare its 2022 racecar.
What is Extreme E
Multimatic, already known for its success in the WEC with Ford, will also provide two engineers to McLaren’s off-road project. Leena Gade who will be the team’s race engineer, and Teena Gade, who will look after performance and systems engineering.
‘We have had a long history of collaboration with McLaren and this is a new chapter in the relationship,’ said Executive Vice President of Multimatic Special Vehicle Operations, Larry Holt.
‘Zak (Brown) has consistently proven his instinct for where our industry needs to head, and this latest move into Extreme E is another that I fully agree is imperative to focus attention on sustainability, reduced carbon emissions and ultimately the viability of the sport.’
Why Extreme E?
‘From the moment Extreme E was announced we have been following the progress of the series closely,’ said Brown. ‘Our attention was immediately drawn by the innovative format of this motorsport platform, in particular the ability it gives us to accelerate and boost our own overarching sustainability agenda, which shares the same priorities of decarbonisation, waste reduction, diversity and equality.’
‘While Formula 1 will always remain at the centre of our world, like INDYCAR and esports, our entry into Extreme E is additive to the McLaren Racing franchise and will complement and help support all our programmes,’ he added. ‘We will be competing against big names we’re very familiar with from F1 and INDYCAR but, like all series we compete in, the competition objective is clear: we are there to win.’