•Team Drogba’s electric boat races on the Lagos Lagoon during the E1 final race yesterday
Rain soaked Nigeria’s bustling metropolis of Lagos yesterday hosted a race in the UIM E1 World Championship, an all-electric powerboat racing series — the first time that such an event has been held in Africa.
An earlier tropical storm delayed the start of the finals with nine teams belonging to some of the world’s top sporting and entertainment stars waiting for hours for the storm to clear, reports Channels TV.
Africa is the fourth continent to host an E1 race during the series’ second season, as the championship has expanded from five to seven races.
Previous competitions have been held in Jeddah, Doha, Monaco and Miami.
“Africa needed to be there, the motherland needed to be there, so we are incredibly proud to be here,” Rodi Basso, founder and CEO of E1 told our correspondent.
“We are incredibly proud to have moved from five races in two continents in season one, to seven races in four continents in season two,” he said.
•Team Brazil’s Norwegian pilot Marit Stromoy (L) and Swedish pilot Timmy Hansen (R) lifting the winners trophy yesterday
Come Rain, Come Shine
Under grey skies and showers, fans trickled into white tents erected as watching areas along the coast while afrobeats music blared from huge speakers and vendors sold food including Nigeria’s staple: jollof rice.
Fans watched from balconies of hotels and lofty office blocks — some sipping champagne.
Bumi Oke, a 61-year-old advertising executive and her husband came to watch the race “out of curiosity”.
“It’s almost as if you’re abroad” and hosting the race gave “Nigerians more confidence in our own ability to host global events.
“When you do international events, business goes on come rain, come sun,” she said.
Ivory Coast football legend Didier Drogba and his partner Gabrielle Lemaire, who were instrumental in bringing the race to the continent for the first time, mingled with the winners and posed for pictures on the post-race podium.
Global sporting and entertainment celebrities, including Drogba, Super Bowl legend Tom Brady, American basketball great LeBron James, and Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal own E1 teams.
Team Brazil, owned by tech entrepreneur Marcelo Claure, won the race, with Indian professional cricketer Virat Kohli’s Team Blue Rising coming second and Drogba’s team third.
The pilots sailing the boats, a man and a woman for each team, are drawn from various sports, including motorsport, go-karting and powerboating.
