Motorsport Images appointed official photo agency of Extreme E
April 1, 2021
Motorsport Images has been selected as the official photography agency by Extreme E, the new motorsport discipline taking place in some of the harshest climates on Earth to highlight the impact of climate change. Motorsport Network’s assignment and licencing business that has over 26 million images in its licencing collection, will provide all images to the series and to all nine of the competing race teams.
This is no easy task as Extreme E race events will pose plenty of challenges. These include the extreme environments which will produce dust, sand, humidity; internet connectivity; and the potential complications in getting close to the action as race routes aren’t like conventional circuits with the usual viewing positions.
However the Motorsport Images team has been preparing for months to overcome these challenges. With years of knowledge as the leading motorsport photography agency covering Formula One and Formula E events live, and having also brought in Dakar Rally and World Rally specialists, this is a challenge for which Motorsport Images is ideally equipped.
With the challenges of the remote racing come the logistical challenges of distributing imagery from the event. Motorsport Images has a technologically proven distribution service, which means that images are available to Motorsport Images customers almost as soon as they are taken. This helps Motorsport Images clients provide live and as-it-happens coverage of race series, giving them an edge to their competitors in this area. Motorsport Images houses the world’s largest collection of motorsport images, including an unbroken record of the entire history of the Formula 1 World Championship.
Extreme E has attracted a high-quality field with teams entered by top motorsport names including Lewis Hamilton, Nico Rosberg, Jenson Button, Chip Ganassi, Michael Andretti plus drivers like Molly Taylor, Claudia Hürtgen and Jamie Chadwick. In a world-first for motorsport, teams will each field one male and one female driver who compete equally together in each race for success.
Race events will take place in the vast dunes of Saudi Arabia for the opening Desert X Prix, the coast of Senegal, West Africa (Ocean X Prix), Kangerlussuaq, Greenland (Arctic X-Prix), Pará, Brazil (Amazon X-Prix) and Argentinian Patagonia for the season finale, the Glacier X Prix.
To support Extreme E’s sustainability position, Motorsport Images will be the only photography company capturing images of the race series, which will cut down on travel to the events, with editing and technical services provided remotely in London.
Motorsport Network supports the messaging and goals of Extreme E with respect to the environment and diversity and is proud to be a part of this new journey.
Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E said: “Extreme E is set in iconic locations, featuring top drivers and an innovative wheel-to-wheel racing format, which all translates to the potential for epic visual storytelling, though it also comes with huge technical and logistical challenges.
We feel highly confident that Steven and the Motorsport Images team have the right mix of experience and talent to bring our sport to life for the world to follow and can’t wait to see the results very soon at our Desert X Prix.”
Steven Tee, Managing Director, Motorsport Images (Assignment): “I am very excited that we have been selected as the official photo agency for the inaugural season of Extreme E.
We will be sending a diverse team of photographers with skill sets ranging from WRC, Dakar Rally, Formula E and F1 which we feel will allow us to perfectly capture this new and very different type of motorsport series which kicks off on April 3 in the Saudi desert.”
James Allen, President of Motorsport Network: “I have admired this Extreme E project since Alejandro Agag first spoke about it and we’re proud that they turned to our class leading team to deliver. First it will be visually spectacular and I can’t wait to see Steven’s team’s output distributed all over the world.
But beyond that, I love Extreme E’s clear sense of purpose and its goals to promote sustainability and diversity and to highlight how our world is changing; both the motorsport world and the wider world. Anyone who follows Motorsport Network will be aware how long we have championed the need for our sport to demonstrate a sense of purpose.”