Timmy Hansen: ‘I hope we can have a shot at becoming E1 World Champions’
Former World Rallycross Champion Timmy Hansen reveals his expectations ahead of his second season in the all-electric E1 powerboat championship with Team Brazil.
After winning the World RX title with the family-run Hansen team, the Swede has since forged a name for himself as one of the leading drivers in electric motorsport. In 2021, his debut Extreme E season, he finished third in the title standings after scoring a victory at the Arctic X-Prix with the Andretti outfit.
That same year, when World RX switched to all-electric powertrains, Hansen finished second in the title standings. When the championship went on hiatus at the end of the 2025 season, he wrapped up his World RX career (for now, at least) with three podiums and fifth in the standings despite the Hansen outfit missing the final round of the year in Turkey.
In 2025, the 33 year-old joined the E1 World Championship – the world’s sole fully-electric racing boat championship to be sanctioned by the Union Internationale Motonautique (UIM), the international governing body for powerboating activities. As with Extreme E and the Extreme H World Cup, the E1 RaceBird boats are piloted by a male and female crew.
The Swedish ace and teammate, Norway’s Marit Stromoy, finished sixth in the 2025 E1 title standings with 99 points and a win in Lagos. Hansen feels this season’s results do not accurately the pairing’s debut E1 season together behind the wheel of Team Brazil’s E1 PowerBird craft.
“Luck wasn’t on our side, but we’ve learnt from our mistakes and we showed in Lagos that we are able to win races, so we will be there in the mix too.” he told EV Powered. “I hope to win more races and if the season goes our way I hope we can have a shot at becoming E1 World Champions.”
Revealed earlier this week, the eight-round 2026 E1 calendar is a mix of what Hansen describes as “some of the best events” of previous years, in Miami, Dubrovnik, and Monaco, while the first-ever E1 race in the Bahamas will serve as the season finale. The fifth round of the season has yet to be confirmed, but is expected to be part of the African leg alongside Lagos.
“Out of all of the events on the calendar, I enjoyed Lagos because we won there, but last year’s season ender in Miami was just incredible,” the 2019 World RX title winner continued. “It’s such a great location and the event matched that – it’s everything E1 is supposed to be.”
In addition to the new calendar, Hansen points to the updates that the nine competing E1 teams have made to their RaceBirds as the most significant change for 2026. The powerboat is driven by a 200bhp outboard motor and batteries supplied Kreisel. The Austrian EV tech specialists were also responsible for supplying the all-electric powertrains for World RX during its EV era.
“The biggest changes are mostly improvements at the back on how the outboard is attached to the hull of the boat,” he explains. “This is because we steer, trim and adjust the lift at the back, while the rear foil is carrying a large part of the boat’s weight when it’s flying – it’s a very complex area.”
Timmy Hansen and the rest of the E1 crews will head to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, to begin the new season on January 23. For a full rundown of the race calendar, click here.
