Jeddah opened the 2026 UIM E1 World Championship with a statement of intent, as Aoki Racing Team combined consistency and tactical discipline to take victory and collect maximum points at the season's first round.
Qualifying took place on Friday 23 January, with racing following on Saturday 24 January. From the outset, the event made clear just how narrow the gaps between competitors have become in this still-young but rapidly maturing championship.
Central to the spectacle is the RaceBird, a 7.5-metre, single-seat electric hydrofoil that lifts clear of the water and can reach speeds close to 50 knots. Its 200bhp electric motor and sophisticated battery systems mean the machine rewards precision, energy management, and positional awareness far more than outright aggression.
The quickest time of the entire weekend belonged to Team Blue Rising, owned by Virat Kohli, whose pilot stopped the clock at 1:03.657 across all races and claimed the fastest lap point. Team AlUla, championed by LeBron James, was not far behind at 1:05.847, while Team Rafa, associated with Rafa Nadal, and Westbrook Racing, backed by Will Smith, both recorded best laps in the low 1:06 bracket. Those figures underline how compressed the competitive field has already become.
Aoki Racing Team, aligned with Steve Aoki, never led the outright timing sheets, but their approach told a different story. Throughout the group stages and on into the finals, drivers Dani Clos and Sara Misir circulated repeatedly in the 1:08 to 1:09 range, accumulating clean laps while rivals shed time to penalties and costly infringements.
Saturday's racing exposed the fragility of raw speed as a strategy. Team Miami, representing Marc Anthony, came into race day with genuine promise after posting laps in the 1:06.7 to 1:06.8 range during the group stages, but penalties and lane violations pushed them into the Race Off, where their challenge ultimately stalled.
The finals were where the championship picture came into focus. In Final 1, Dani Clos drove a carefully managed race for Aoki Racing Team, opening on a 1:13.425 before settling into the low 1:08s. Back-to-back laps of 1:08.114 and 1:08.117 were a portrait of control, and that consistency secured the preferred inside lane going into the deciding race.
Final 2 was decided in the opening moments, though not without drama. Sara Misir and Team Rafa's Cris Lazarraga made contact as they went foil-to-foil into Turn One, both drivers contesting track position hard. Misir came through ahead and settled into a composed race rhythm. Her fastest clean lap of the final, a 1:06.310, came within three tenths of the fastest laps recorded across the entire event, yet her priority after that was maintaining consistent gaps rather than pressing for quicker times.
The fight for the podium positions behind her remained close throughout. Team Brady's Emma Kimiläinen was a steady presence in the 1:06.9 to 1:08.9 window, applying pressure without overreaching, while Team AlUla's Rusty Wyatt translated his strong group-stage performance into laps between 1:08.5 and 1:09.7 to lock up third place overall.
Aoki Racing Team took the Jeddah victory and the full points haul that came with it, finishing the round on 40 points after combining their qualifying and Grand Prix scores. Team Brady sit second on 33 points, with Team AlUla on 24, Westbrook Racing on 19, and Sierra Racing Club on 15 to round out the top five.
What the timing data from Jeddah illustrated is that outright pace is only one part of the equation in E1 racing. The teams that performed best protected track position, managed their energy, and kept their lap counts clean. In races spanning just six or seven laps, a single long lap or lane infringement could cost more than five seconds. That is a deficit no fastest lap, often less than a second quicker than the chasing pack, can overcome.
One of the weekend's notable misfortunes fell on Team Drogba, where Kiwi driver Micah Wilkinson suffered a snapped engine mid-section on the first lap of the first race, ending any prospect of reaching the finals.
Jeddah also marked the championship debuts of two new outfits. Sierra Racing Club fielded Eric Stark from Denmark alongside New Zealander Rianna O'Meara-Hunt, who was standing in for Catie Munnings of Great Britain, while Team Monaco featured Maxime Nocher from France and Oban Duncan from Great Britain. Both new teams showed encouraging signs, recording laps within the 1:08 to 1:10 bracket, and as the field continues to tighten, those margins are only expected to narrow further.
With round one complete, the E1 Series now turns its attention to Lake Como in Italy, where round two is scheduled for mid to late April.
