New entrant HISPANO SUIZA XITE ENERGY TEAM quickly filled the last Extreme-E slot on the entry list and announced Italian-Canarian rally driver Christine Giampaoli Zonca - better known as Christine GZ - as their female driver.
After being announced as one of the nine entries for the inaugural 2021 Extreme-E championship, German team HWA withdrew from the opening season "because of economic and strategic reasons", but a later entry in 2022 might be still on the table.
Luckily, we still will get to see 9 teams in action in 2021, as Hispano Suiza XITE Energy Team stepped in and presented their two drivers: Christina Giampaoli Zonca and Oliver Bennett. Both are known in the rally and rallycross scenes.
Spanish company Hispano Suiza has been producing customizable luxury cars and plans to become one of Europe’s most luxurious and exclusive car manufacturers. Joining forces with the brand is XITE Energy - a company which aims to redefine the market of energy drinks by using functional ingredients that are fused together to provide a cognitive boost, combining natural flavours, natural caffeine and zero sugar.
Oliver Bennett made his debut in the British Rallycross Championship in 2016 and participated in both America's Rallycross events and in the FIA World Rallycross Championship.
Christine Giampaoli Zonca has a rally background: 2014 was her first full-year of competitions and she achieved her first win in a gravel rally. Additionally, she was the regional champion of the Canary Islands in front-wheel drive vehicles and in group B4. Internationally, Christine drove the 2016 Rally de Catalunya in WRC and won the women's category of the Spanish Gravel Rally Championship. Alongside that, Christine GZ - how she is best known on social media - entered off-road races in the US and Mexico.
" I am very excited to be part of the HISPANO SUIZA XITE ENERGY TEAM. We are going to compete with a very powerful vehicle that represents the future of the automotive industry, 100% electric. We also have the opportunity to raise awareness about climate change by showing that you can race in some of the most remote places in the world without polluting the planet. I am very proud to work for such an innovative company as HISPANO SUIZA and I greatly appreciate the trust placed in me by Avatel. I think that having mixed teams will be a great opportunity to give female drivers more visibility and will contribute to have a stronger female presence in motorsport in the future. I am extremely happy to share a car with Oliver: he is a great driver; I have followed his career for a while now and I am sure that we are going to complement each other perfectly. Now I'm just looking forward to racing and doing my best for our team.”
At the present moment, the team is testing in Motorland Aragon for the 2021 season prior to the first race event that will take place at the Desert X Prix in Al-Ula, Saudi Arabia, on 20-21 March 2021.
