The Saudi Public Investment Fund (PIF) announced on Monday the signing of an agreement with Electric Sea Racing Limited (E1 Series) to create the world’s first electric powerboat racing championship, reported the Saudi Press Agency.
The partnership forms a main step in creating the championship and speeding up preparations for the debut season scheduled to take place in early 2023, where Saudi Arabia is among candidate locations to host the first edition of the race.
The partnership was announced during a virtual inauguration ceremony in Riyadh that saw the participation of the E1 Series senior officials, where the ceremony also witnessed announcing the new designs of the electric powerboats RaceBirds.
The PIF is a major contributor to the global economy and a main driver for efforts of the digital transformation for Saudi Arabia, where this investment accords with the PIF’s 2021-2025 strategy that focuses on 13 strategic sectors, including entertainment, tourism and sports, service facilities and renewable energy.
The PIF’s investments in future industries are seen in several companies and projects, such as ACWA Power Company, Sudair Project in the renewable energy industry, and Lucid Motors in the electric vehicles industry.
Governor of the Public Investment Fund Yasir Al-Rumayyan said: “We are proud to establish this unique partnership in a sport with a new concept, which comes within the PIF’s strategy to enable innovation globally, open new horizons for future industries, and build up strategic economic partnerships. We believe that our support for new technologies in the sports sector will also contribute to the development of various strategic sectors locally and globally.”
“Our partnership with E1 Series will contribute to the efforts of developing the sustainable technology, which will boost the status of Saudi Arabia in the future industries and enable it to provide more development opportunities that are important for the national economy,” he added.
Co-Founder and Chairman of E1 Series Alejandro Agag expressed pride in the partnership with the PIF in this vital project, noting that the support of the fund in this development stage stresses the importance of the upcoming championship and embodies ambition to make a revolution in the industry of marine mobility.
He also said that the new design of the RaceBird boat will contribute to accelerate the pace of changing the industry and providing sustainable solutions for entertainment and tourist vessels in the future, expressing hope to work with the PIF to move forwards towards a new era of fast electric powerboats.
Co-Founder and CEO of E1 Series Rodi Basso expressed happiness for working side by side with the PIF to shape the future of powerboats, noting that establishing a strong partnership with a proper partner like the PIF provides a solid foundation that can open horizons for creating a new sport.
He said that the RaceBird powerboat has formed a unique challenge for the engineering team responsible for its development before they managed to include several practical solutions that can qualify it strongly to participate in upcoming races.
The PIF has contributed to developing and stimulating the entertainment, tourism and sports sector in Saudi Arabia as part of Saudi Vision 2030 through supporting high-level sports events, such as supporting the heavyweight world boxing championship and Diriyah E-prix.
