The Electric GT Championship, the world’s first 100% zero emissions GT championship, is delighted to confirm Tom Coronel and Alice Powell as the latest members of the fast-expanding EGT Drivers’ Club.
Following a successful test conducted at the Circuit Paul Ricard by former Formula 1 driver Heinz-Harald Frentzen, multiple WTCC racer Coronel and GP3 alumni Powell have expressed their interest in joining the revolutionary ‘Age of Light’, utilising alternative power sources to protect future generations. They join Stefan Wilson, Vicky Priria, Dani Clos and Leilani Münter in the rapidly-growing Drivers’ Club that will form the grid for the inaugural season in 2017.
44-year-old Coronel (@TomCoronel) from Naarden, Holland, is a touring car and GT racing veteran. The winner of the 1997 Zandvoort F3 Masters – beating the likes of Mark Webber, Nick Heidfeld and Stéphane Sarrazin – the Dutchman went on to enjoy huge success in Japan and racked up ten starts at the Le Mans 24 Hours, before switching to the World Touring Car Championship in 2005. In his eleven years in the category, all of them as an independent, Coronel has won six times and built up an impressive fan-base of over 215,000 Twitter followers, a total that puts many current Formula 1 drivers to shame.
Having been impressed after testing an electric-powered Lotus at Zandvoort, Coronel was inspired to pursue his interest further and will command enormous local support when the EGT championship visits Zandvoort in the Netherlands.
“The Electric GT Series is a very interesting project and one that I’m excited to be a part of in these early stages,” said Coronel. “If you look around the world of motorsport it’s all heading towards this kind of racing, Formula E has already proven how successful it can be and even in F1 they’ve recently introduced the hybrid system.”
23-year-old Powell (@alicepowell) from Oxford, England, will reprise her rivalry with Priria from the 2012 GP3 championship in EGT. The first female to score a point in the F1-support series at Monza, Powell launched her career by winning the 2010 Formula Renault 2.0 BARC championship. Also a proficient hockey player, Powell will be competing with a roof over her head for only the second time in her career, after contesting a part-season in the Ginetta G50 championship.
“I am really looking forward to be joining the Electric GT Drivers’ Club,” said Powell. “Electric racing is rapidly growing and to be part of the world first 100% zero emissions GT championship is very exciting. The series has a bright future and fantastic plans as it enters The Age of Light.”
Electric GT Championship CEO Mark Gemmell added: “Both Tom and Alice are both worthy additions to the EGT Driver’s Club and demonstrate our ambition to ensure that our visionary plans for sustainable forms of motorsport will be visible to the widest possible audience. Their track records across a range of disciplines will make them strong assets to the Electric GT Championship and we look forward to seeing them on the grid in 2017.”
The EGT Championship will consist of 20 international drivers, both male and female, racing for ten professional teams in identical Tesla Model S machines equipped with the latest OMP safety equipment and running on bespoke Pirelli tyres. EGT will visit seven classic European circuits in its inaugural season, including Paul Ricard, Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya, Zandvoort, Brands Hatch, Mugello, Estoril and the Nürburgring, before staging three non-championship races in the Americas.
About Electric GT Championship – New zero emissions motorsport category promoting sustainable mobilityThe championship was announced on 9 March 2016, with the Tesla Model S chosen for the first season, which will get underway in 2017. There will be 10 teams and 20 drivers, who will compete across seven races during season one. Weekends will consist of a 20-minute practice session, 30-minute qualifying, a day race (60km) and a dusk race (60km). Each round will be a weekend-long festival of technology and innovation for sustainability, in and around the circuits. Fans will be able to stream races via Periscope, Twitch and YouTube, as well as interact directly with the teams using social media platforms.
