Extreme E Enlists Zenith As Official Timekeeper And Founding Partner Of Electric Off-road Racing Series

Extreme E announced that Swiss luxury watchmaker Zenith will become Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner of the pioneering electric off-road racing championship.

The agreement was signed right on time ahead of the inaugural season of Extreme E, which starts this weekend in the AlUla region of Saudi Arabia on 3-4 April.

As Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner, Zenith will provide live timing at each event directly to the Command Centre, the innovative pit wall and strategy room where key team players will be located on-site.

Fans will also be able to follow their favourite team and driver and view live sector times via the official Extreme E website and on mobile devices.

Zenith’s philosophy of chronometric precision and boundless innovation is the perfect fit for Extreme E’s exciting knockout style racing format. Each driver pairing will compete against the clock in a number of qualifying heats, with the fastest two teams progressing to the Final.

Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E said:“The margin of success in motorsport has always been measured against the stopwatch and that’s why I’m delighted that Zenith is joining as Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner. Zenith is a master of accuracy and a name recognised worldwide for timing and excellence. With only milliseconds the difference between victory and defeat, we can rely on Zenith’s chronometric precision throughout our first season of Extreme E.”

Julien Tornare, CEO of Zenith, said:“Building a green and sustainable future is something very much at the core of what Zenith is doing today. We are absolutely thrilled to join Extreme E as its Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner. It’s exciting to be at the start of what will undoubtedly become the future of off-road extreme racing, while also bringing environmental issues to the forefront. When developing our next collection that we will unveil in the coming days, this is exactly the kind of environment we envisioned for it: Innovative, off the beaten path and pushing the limits of performance to the extreme, where every millisecond counts and every racer can make their mark.”

At each venue Extreme E will visit on the calendar, the location has been adversely affected by the climate crisis. Through the power of sport and using Extreme E’s global platform, the series will help to shine a light on environmental issues and make a positive impact through its Legacy Programmes.

Extreme E makes its debut in three days’ time with the Desert X Prix in AlUla, Saudi Arabia. Each driver will race behind the wheel of the ODYSSEY 21, an electric SUV designed to tackle five formidable environments – arctic glacier, desert, rainforest and coastal.

About Zenith: Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner

ZENITH: TIME TO REACH YOUR STAR.

Zenith exists to inspire individuals to pursue their dreams and make them come true – against all odds. Since its establishment in 1865, Zenith became the first watch manufacture in the modern sense of the term, and its watches have accompanied extraordinary figures that dreamt big and strived to achieve the impossible – from Louis Blériot’s history-making flight across the English Channel to Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting stratospheric free-fall jump. Zenith is also highlighting visionary and trailblazing women – past and present – by celebrating their accomplishments and creating in 2020 its first-ever collection dedicated entirely to them, Defy Midnight.

With innovation as its guiding star, Zenith features exceptional in-house developed and manufactured movements in all its watches. Since the creation of the El Primero in 1969, the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, Zenith has gone on to master fractions of the second with the Chronomaster Sport and its 1/10th of a second precision and the DEFY 21 with a precision of 1/100th of a second. Zenith has been shaping the future of Swiss watchmaking since 1865, accompanying those who dare to challenge themselves and break barriers. The time to reach your star is now.