Team Brady has clinched victory at E1 Monaco 2024 and reclaimed the top spot in the E1 World Championship standings after an exciting weekend of electric powerboat racing in the waters off Port Hercule.
The E1 World Champion, the world’s first all-electric championship for powerboats, made its debut in the Principality on Saturday 27th and Sunday 28th July.
Rodi Basso, the CEO and co-founder of E1, said, “To see our revolutionary electric racing series come to life in the capital of yachting is an extraordinary feeling. The weekend provided a spectacular racing festival and an opportunity to instigate change and accelerate our mission to work with partners to develop clean technologies for marine mobility.”
See more: Interview: CEO Rodi Basso on what to expect from E1 World Championship in Monaco
After a series of intense and technical courses in Monaco’s Mediterranean waters – and some very testing qualifying rounds – Team Brady and its pilots Sam Coleman and Emma Kimiläinen emerged as the winners of this stage of the event as Tom Brady, NFL legend and the owner of the team, watched on from the Yacht Club de Monaco
“It’s great to see the team win here in Monaco,” said the former American football quarterback. “The teamwork has been incredible. We’ve been grinding through different issues all weekend, but we proved again that we can deal with any conditions. I am so proud of Emma, Sam, the whole team, and our resilience. I have full confidence, and we’re going to keep fighting. I love our team and what we are doing.”
In second place came Team Drogba, which is owned by football icon Didier Drogba, for whom it was the first podium finish of the season. They were closely followed by Rafael Nadal’s Team Rafa in third.
Highlights of the competition
The finals saw the Team Brady, Team Rafa, Team Blue Rising, Team Drogba and Westbrook Racing go head-to-head.
In the first race, Yousef Al-Abdulrazzaq of Team Drogba secured first place, finishing over 15 seconds ahead of Team Brady.
Spurred on by a desire to improve on their fifth place in the first race, Team Rafa returned to the port arena with full power for Race 2. The team’s Tom Chiappe secured the win and gave the Nadal-backed side a place on the podium for the first time since Jeddah in February.
Team Brady’s two second-place finishes were enough to give the team the edge and they ascended to the top spot on the podium, where Prince Albert II of Monaco personally handed over the winning trophy.
The event also saw the season’s first yellow cards in the Championship’s history be issued to Team Aoki and Sergio Pérez E1 Team for dangerous driving. Meanwhile, Team Miami, who had been leading the rankings, was eliminated in the Race Off, while Team Brazil was eliminated just before the finals.
Lisa Battaglia, a Monegasque pilot for Team Blue Rising, told Monaco Life, “It was a dream to compete in this race, and I saw my family during the race. It’s a beautiful, sustainable and equal event as pilots are both women and men. I hope for a podium for the next race in three weeks as, for now, we don’t have a podium.”
The next E1 Championship will take place on Lake Como between 23rd and 24th August.
To watch some of the E1 Monaco 2024 action, check out the Monaco Life Instagram reel below:
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