Extreme E And Zenith Head To Sardinia For The Enel X Island X Electric Car Race

The competition is definitely heating up at Extreme E. For the penultimate race of its inaugural season, of which Zenith is the Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner. The electric off-road championship headed to Capo Teulada off the coast of the Italian island of Sardinia for the Enel X Island X Prix. Marking Extreme E’s first European destination, the Teulada route took place in the Army Training area at Capo Teulada and provided a harder compact surface compared to the previous races.

After tight qualifying runs on Saturday, Rosberg X Racing’s Molly Taylor and Johan Kristoffersson emerged victorious and secured their third championship pole position in Sardinia, putting them in the lead for the championship title.

With just one more race to go and fierce competition between the teams, anything can happen at the final Extreme E race of the 2021 season taking place in the United Kingdom in December!

Celebrating Exceptional Feats – The Zenith “Moment in Time” Prize

For the Zenith Moment in Time prize, which awards one exceptional performance from each race, Molly Taylor’s feat during the Arctic X prix in Greenland was the outstanding choice as voted by social media users. After tumbling on a turn and having the car roll over on the sand, Molly Taylor didn’t flinch and immediately continued the lap. Her co-pilot Johan Kristoffersson handed her a DEFY Midnight during the Enel X Island X Prix; a watch that symbolizes the modern, confident and inspiring woman that blazes her own path against all adversity.

At the end of the Enel X Island X Prix, one driver’s performance stood out as breathtakingly extreme. After losing his car’s door and having water, sand and mud splash into it, ABT CUPRA XE’s Mattias Ekström managed to finish the race in second place. On his spectacular performance and receiving the Zenith Moment in Time prize, Mattias Ekström said: “Many, many thanks to Zenith for this amazing Defy Extreme. I never thought I would win an award for losing my door – but that just shows how crazy Extreme E can be! Actually, I was afraid our fight for the podium was lost when lots of fresh air and mud came in from the right side. But then we ended up with a trophy, some champagne and a Zenith DEFY Extreme on my wrist.”

Racing for Lasting Change – The Extreme E Legacy Program

In line with the Manufacturer’s “Zenith is Green” program of environmental consciousness and creating a cleaner, sustainable future wherever possible, Extreme E’s own Legacy Program aims to bring awareness and new initiatives to the areas where races are held, working with local NGO’s and the championship’s own board of scientists to bring positive change to those areas long after the races are over. For the Enel X Island X race in Sardinia, the effects of climate change and global warming were very much palpable on the island.

Zenith has joined Extreme E in working alongside MEDSEA (Mediterranean Sea and Coast Foundation) in Sardinia with two significant projects headed by Professor Carlos Duarte, an expert in oceanic conservation. The first explores Green Carbon, supporting the forest restoration efforts in the Oristanese area and beyond that fell victim to extensive wildfire damage, therefore enhancing green carbon stores. The second will focus on replenishing seagrasses, specifically the Posidonia oceanics seagrass meadows - an ecosystem known as the rainforest of the oceans, and an environment that sequesters even more carbon dioxide than its terrestrial comparison and is equally threatened, making it a huge blue carbon store.

DEFY Extreme – Built for the Elements

When racing on untouched terrains through extreme conditions in innovative all-electric vehicles, a suitably ingenious and robust watch can make all the difference. The DEFY Extreme 1/100th of a second chronograph is Zenith’s most rugged and high-performance chronograph to date, giving its groundbreaking high-frequency movement a vessel capable of taking on whatever comes its way. With adaptability in mind, the DEFY Extreme comes with a metal bracelet as well as rubber and Velcro straps that can be instantly swapped using the quick-change mechanism on the back of the watch’s case.

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 the DREAMHERS platform where women share their experiences and inspire others to fulfill their dreams.

Zenith exclusively uses its own in-house developed and manufactured movements across all of its watches. Since the creation of the El Primero in 1969, the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, Zenith has gone on to master the complication with even more precision, capable of measurements to the closest 1/10th of a second in the most recent Chronomaster lines, and 1/100th of a second in the DEFY collection. 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.