Extreme E: New opportunities for women and girls in motorsport

Motorsport is experiencing a surge in female fans, with more women and girls becoming captivated by the thrill of racing across various competitions like F1, MotoGP, Formula E, and Extreme E.

This increase can be attributed to a range of factors, from the accessibility provided by social media platforms like TikTok, to popular shows like Drive to Survive, which now boasts a 43% female viewership in the UK.

The shift is visible trackside, too. In 2019, women accounted for just 20% of Grand Prix attendees – today, nearly a third of the crowd is female, demonstrating a meaningful change in the sport’s fanbase.

Catie Munnings: Extreme E driver 

Catie Munnings is a British rally driver, competed in Extreme E, the electric off-roading racing series from 2021 to 2024, driving the Spark ODYSSEY 21 car. 

Munnings is expected to be behind the wheel of the 2025 hydrogen Pioneer 25, as Extreme E makes their transition into their recently announced, hydrogen fuel-cell series, Extreme H.

Munnings was recently interviewed for BBC’s Newsround, where she gave an insight into how motorsport can change to create more opportunities for women and girls.

“Within Extreme E regulations, each team must have a male and a female driver. Their combined score then gives their overall team result.”

This format ensures racing opportunities for women. It has also facilitated better training and development opportunities specifically for female drivers.

Catie highlighted that those in positions of power, i.e. the organisers and sponsors need to put pressure on in order to make a real change to motorsport. 

Munnings’ dad was a rally driver, and from around the age of 5, Catie would sit in the passenger seat of his rally cars.

Aged 14, Catie started competing herself, before moving into the European Rally Championship aged 17.

Recently, we caught up with Catie to get her thoughts on Extreme E’s hydrogen fuel-cell car, Pioneer 25.

Creating opportunities for women and girls

The report Inside Track: Exploring the gender gap in motorsport found that only 1 in 10 people who participate in motorsport are women.

Women face various barriers to breaking into professional driving, one of which being securing sponsorship. Securing sponsorship is also a concern for male drivers, but too few sponsors are willing to invest in young female talent.

This is partly due to a lack of role models and representation. This has been improving but more needs to be done to ensure more women are in visible positions across motorsport competitions.

Increased representation will also help to inspire young girls to get involved in the sport, providing role models for them to look up to.

Representation doesn’t just stop on the racetrack, however. More women are now involved across the world of motorsport, including engineering and race strategy.

Women also battle stereotypes, despite Hinsta, a physical training provider for F1 drivers, confirming that there is “no evidence that there are physical or psychological barriers in preventing women from reaching the top of the sport if given the appropriate support and training”.

But Hinsta admitted that current physical and psychological training is designed for men and that for women to reach their potential, gender-appropriate training needs to be developed and deployed.

Extreme E are leading the way with female inclusion on the track

Extreme E is a thrilling off-road racing championship featuring custom-built, fully electric SUVs powered by advanced battery technology. The races take place in some of the world’s most extreme and remote locations.

Teams, each consisting of two drivers (one male and one female), compete against one another in a two-day event. Each driver completes one lap, with a changeover (‘the switch’) included as part of the race structure. Each race consists of two laps, covering a total distance of approximately 18 km.

In 2025, Extreme E will evolve into Extreme H, the world’s first hydrogen-powered racing series and is expected to continue with the existing split of both male and female drivers making up the teams.

Alejandro Agag, Founder and CEO of Extreme E, said: “We were a first in motorsport when we launched our gender-equal sporting format.

“At Extreme E, we strongly believe that the most effective combination of drivers, team, engineers and car will rise to the top – and that has been proven since the very beginning.

“The performance between all of the drivers on the Extreme E grid is incredibly close, and that should be attributed to the greater platform for women drivers created by our pioneering series – and there is still more we can do. 

“I am proud that Extreme E remains a leader. As a Championship, we are hugely supportive of the 17 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), better known as the Global Goals, with Goal 5 – gender equality – an important focus for the series.

The key to success in Extreme E should be solely down to talent and ability, and we as a championship will continue to strive for gender equality.”

Organisations supporting women in motorsport

There are various organisations which are supporting the success of women in motorsport. 

For example, Girls on Track UK is organising events and creating community networking groups to inspire women and girls to not just take up the sport but also to stay in it. 

This is an issue in motorsport, with female drivers having an average career of one to five years, in comparison to male driver’s career average of more than 10 years. 

The introduction of the F1 Academy, a championship designed to encourage female talent, has also helped to raise the profile of female drivers and has given them more opportunities to race. 

The Inside Track report found that “Over 80% of fans believe women will be racing in F1 within the next 10 years” and the F1 Academy is helping to achieve this. 

Extreme E has also launched its Racing For All initiative, which provides an opportunity for young mechanical and engineering talent to gain hands-on experience for an Extreme E team.

Driving Hydrogen are looking forward to the launch of Extreme H and the opportunities this will provide for women and girls.