The Fédération Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA) Extreme H World Cup will return to Qiddiya City, Saudi Arabia, for its second edition from October 29-31, 2026.

The competition features hydrogen-powered, purpose-built fuel-cell race cars, with equal male and female driver pairings and an off-road format designed to test performance, reliability and clean hydrogen energy technology under demanding conditions.

The event will take place in a purpose-built off-road environment in Qiddiya City, and will combine technical terrain, short-format racing and close head-to-head competition.

At the center of the World Cup is the Pioneer 25, Extreme H’s hydrogen-powered race car. Designed for high-performance off-road competition, it uses hydrogen fuel cell technology to showcase the potential of alternative energy systems in demanding motorsport conditions. The World Cup aims to test the limits of motorsport and related industries while encouraging investment in hydrogen infrastructure and supporting progress toward a low-carbon future.

The 2026 edition will feature a multistage competition format combining time trials, head-to-head racing and wheel-to-wheel finals. Teams will first complete timed runs to establish seeding positions, before progressing through knockout duels and close-format racing.

The return of the FIA Extreme H World Cup reflects the FIA’s broader commitment to using motorsport as a testbed for innovation. By combining hydrogen technology with an international competition format, the second edition will continue to demonstrate how motorsport can support the development and understanding of alternative energy solutions.

Mohammed Ben Sulayem, president of the FIA, said, “The return of the FIA Extreme H World Cup for its second edition marks another important step in the development of hydrogen-powered motorsport. This competition provides an important platform to test hydrogen fuel cell technology in a demanding, high-performance environment, while supporting the FIA’s wider commitment to innovation, sustainability and safety.”

He continued, “Equally, its sporting format remains an important part of its identity, with male and female drivers competing together for the same honors. This reflects the FIA’s continued ambition to support competitions that explore new technologies while promoting greater opportunity and inclusion across motorsport.”

Ali Russell, the managing director of Extreme H, added, “In 2025, we launched a completely new form of motor racing, leading the way in technology, sustainability and equality. This year, together with the FIA, our partners and the support of our host, Qiddiya City, we will go faster, further and harder. Sustainable motorsport has never looked so good.”

In related news, FIA Affordable Cross Car project underway in Egypt

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The Automobile and Touring Club of Egypt (ATCE) has begun work to bring the FIA Affordable Cross Car to Egypt, the first country in the Middle East and North Africa region to adopt the project.

The Egyptian FIA Affordable Cross Car will be manufactured using locally sourced materials and offer accessible, entry-level motorsport to people across the country. The FIA Affordable Cross Car was launched by the FIA to expand the base of the road sport pyramid and offer an accessible route for new competitors to participate in events such as Rally or Rallycross.

Training has already begun in preparation for the introduction of an Egyptian National Cross Car Championship using cross cars manufactured elsewhere.

Ali Eissa, president of ATCE, said, “Thanks to the initiative of the FIA president and through his Development Fund, ATCE was able to introduce the FIA Affordable Cross Car project in Egypt, marking a major step forward in developing grassroots motorsport.”

He continued, “This initiative will expand the access to entry-level competition, strengthen the foundation of the motorsport pyramid, and create a clear pathway for new drivers, achieving a breakthrough in enhancing, promoting and improving motorsport in Egypt; not only that but it will make it possible for ATCE to avail of this low-cost racing car for the local market, the countries of the MENA region and eventually the whole African continent. We look forward to seeing it come to fruition in the coming months.”

In related news, FIA and Formula E debut Gen4 car with major gains in performance, speed and sustainability

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Saudi Motorsport Company (SMC) and Extreme H have announced a strategic commercial partnership as part of their joint efforts to advance innovation in sustainable technologies and establish Saudi Arabia as a global motorsport hub.

Extreme H organizes the FIA Extreme H World Cup, a hydrogen-powered racing series featuring mixed-gender teams competing in a three-day program in remote, challenging environments. The partnership will see SMC and Extreme H work closely to strengthen the World Cup’s commercial presence across the kingdom.

Commenting on the partnership, Mansour Almokbel, chief executive officer of SMC, said, “Following the success of the inaugural FIA Extreme H World Cup, we are stepping into the future with even greater ambition. As the races continue to evolve from electric to hydrogen power, they reflect a shared commitment to innovation and to advancing sustainable solutions for future generations.”

He added, “We are proud of our strategic partnership with Extreme H, which marks an important step in advancing our vision to support clean energy and drive meaningful innovation. Saudi Arabia will continue to lead in this journey, helping to shape a new era of sustainable motorsport.”

Ali Russell, managing director of Extreme H, commented, “I am incredibly excited to continue our extensive relationship with Saudi Motorsport Company. We have built a fantastic foundation together over the years, and I am proud for Extreme H to be a key part of Saudi Arabia’s vibrant motorsport landscape. As we move into this next era of hydrogen power, our partnership with SMC will be vital in demonstrating the potential of sustainable technology on a global stage.”

In related news, FIA and Formula E debut Gen4 car with major gains in performance, speed and sustainability

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The Lotus Cup China has appointed Giti Tire as official race tire supplier. The 2026 season will run across five rounds from April to December, featuring 17 teams, 58 drivers and 44 cars. Competitors will run the GitiCompete GTR1 slick tire in sizes 240/650R18 and 300/650R18.

The season opener took place last weekend (April 3-5) at the Sepang International Circuit in Malaysia, which is known for its high temperatures and demanding layout, placing significant emphasis on tire durability, consistency and thermal performance. Round 2 will take place in Shanghai.

The GitiCompete GTR1 has been developed specifically for motorsport use, with a focus on grip, stability, and predictable handling under race conditions. Giti states that the tire’s construction and compound are designed to maintain performance under sustained load, while heat management characteristics support consistent lap-to-lap behavior. The tire has been engineered to deliver responsive steering feedback, enabling drivers to extract performance in high-speed and high-load cornering situations.

Giti uses motorsport as a development tool for its wider product portfolio, with data from tire wear, heat cycles and grip performance feeding into future product development and refinement.

Related news, Ariel unveils hand-built, motorsport‑spec Atom 4RR

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The Azimut Automobile Heritage Enhancement fund has renewed its partnership with Ferrari Hypercar ahead of the 2026 FIA World Endurance Championship opener in Imola on April 19. The collaboration in the Hypercar class began in June 2023, shortly before Ferrari’s win at the Centenary 24 Hours of Le Mans.

Azimut-AHE will be the official Ferrari Hypercar team partner, and its redesigned logo will be displayed on the number 50 and 51 Ferrari 499P cars fielded by the official Ferrari-AF Corse team in the top class of the FIA World Endurance Championship. The partnership will also extend to the safety car livery in the Ferrari Challenge Trofeo Pirelli single-marque series, where the same logo will feature.

In related news, Mercedes-AMG leverages Track Sport Concept for next-gen GT3 and Black Series

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Bridgestone will supply Battlax motorcycle tires to seven teams in the 2026 FIM Endurance World Championship (EWC), up from five teams in 2025, as it continues a partnership with the series that began in 2017.

The announcement follows a successful 2025 season in which the Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team secured the championship at the Bol d’Or. Bridgestone-equipped teams also filled five of the top six positions in the overall standings, with the company extending its title-winning streak in the series with the fifth consecutive year that a Bridgestone-equipped team has won the championship.

“The FIM Endurance World Championship represents the ultimate proving ground for tire performance, durability and innovation. The 2025 season once again demonstrated the consistency and capability of Bridgestone tyres under the toughest racing conditions,” said Nico Thuy, director motorcycle at Bridgestone EMEA. “Following this success, we are proud to offer our expertise and top-performing tires to seven teams for 2026.”

Bridgestone Battlax racing tires are engineered with advanced materials and construction technologies that deliver maximum grip, consistent performance and exceptional durability throughout race distances. Designed to perform across varying weather and track conditions, they provide riders with “the confidence to push to the limit”, the tire maker said.

For 2026, Bridgestone will support AutoRace Ube Racing Team, BMW Motorrad World Endurance Team, F.C.C. TSR Honda France, Kawasaki Webike Trickstar, KM99 Yamaha, Yamalube YART Yamaha EWC Official Team and Yoshimura SERT Motul.

Bridgestone uses racing as a mobile laboratory to refine its tire technology under extreme conditions, with these innovations then transferred to future tires available to all riders. The FIM EWC includes races that last between eight and 24 hours, which places immense and sustained stress on tires, creating ideal conditions to test and develop advanced compounds, construction technologies and durability solutions.

Technologies developed in EWC competition have contributed to products such as the Racing Battlax V03 slick and the Racing Battlax Street RS12 road-legal performance tire, which the company says brings race-derived performance to broader motorcycle applications.

The 2026 EWC season will begin at Le Mans, France, on April 18 and conclude with the Bol d’Or at Circuit Paul Ricard in September.

Related news, Bridgestone outlines 2026 motorsport activities

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Scotland’s dramatic landscapes and world-class forest roads are set to take center stage when the FIA World Rally Championship returns to the UK in 2027 in a new Rally Scotland event.

Developed in partnership with Motorsport UK, the proposed gravel event will be based in northeast Scotland, with rally headquarters and service park facilities located at the P&J Live complex in Aberdeen. Stages will run across the surrounding regions of Aberdeenshire and Moray.

The agreement forms an initial three-year deal beginning in 2027 and ends an eight-year absence for the championship in the UK, following the most recent running of Wales Rally GB in 2019.

The rally has been secured through a partnership between Motorsport UK, WRC Promoter and the Scottish government, with support from Aberdeen City and Aberdeenshire councils.

The next step to make WRC Rally Scotland a reality will be for a candidate event to be held later this year, where the FIA will work with Motorsport UK and event organizers to evaluate and prepare for a return to World Championship-level competition. The event will then be submitted for approval on the WRC calendar by the FIA World Motor Sport Council.

FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem said, “The United Kingdom is famed for its motorsport heritage and passionate fans, and the return of the FIA World Rally Championship to its shores is a huge opportunity for the continued growth of our sport.”

Malcolm Wilson OBE, FIA deputy president for sport, added, “This is a huge announcement for the FIA World Rally Championship, and it really shows the positive direction of travel we are now taking.

“The UK has an incredible heritage and passion for our sport, and the return of a flagship world championship event is the start of the next chapter in this long history.

“As we enter a new era for the WRC in 2027 with new regulations, more accessible cars and more crews fighting at the sharp end, it’s fantastic to see the appetite is there from organizers, governments and, of course, the fans to put together new WRC events.”

Simon Larkin, senior events director at WRC Promoter, commented, “Since the FIA World Rally Championship last visited the UK in 2019, Motorsport UK and WRC Promoter have worked closely together to find the right pathway for its return. We have nothing but praise for the determination and hard work shown by Motorsport UK in bringing this project to life.”

Related news, Swindon Powertrain celebrates 10 years as Bosch Motorsport dealer

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The opening round of the FIM Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships, the Thai Grand Prix, will take place on February 28-March 1 at the Chang International Circuit in Buriram, with Pirelli beginning its third year as exclusive single-tire supplier for both categories. Although the compound specifications are the same as those used in the previous two editions of this Grand Prix, the Moto2 class will feature new rear tires this year.

For 2026, Moto2 riders will have the same soft SC1 and medium SC2 for the front, but the soft SC0 and medium SC1 on the rear will be different from those used over the past two years. The former E0125 development specification is now the 2026 SC0, which uses the same compound but a revised carcass compared to the previous standard soft.

The 2026 SCO will be familiar to riders, having been used in 11 Grands Prix in 2025 – including Silverstone, Aragón, Assen, Brno, Balaton, Barcelona, Mandalika and Portimão – where it was nearly universally chosen.

The new medium SC1 was previously the D0286 development specification and has now been promoted to a standard range option. For 2026, regulations mandate a minimum rear tire pressure of 1.65 bar (24psi).

While Moto2 will see these changes at the rear, Moto3 continues with familiar compounds, providing teams and riders with continuity and predictability. Moto3 will have two front and as many rear slick solutions, both soft SC1 and medium SC2. The rear will have to comply with a minimum pressure of 1.50 bar (22psi).

“Pirelli begins its third season as exclusive tire supplier for the Moto2 and Moto3 World Championships, on the one hand focusing on an already strong and consolidated tire range and on the other hand confirming its strategy of continuous product development,” said Giorgio Barbier, motorcycle racing director at Pirelli.

“The goal remains the same as always: to further optimize performance on the track through solutions capable of guaranteeing more and more consistency, predictability and versatility. This is exactly the work we carried out last year with the Moto2 rear tires in E0125 and D0286 specification, which were upgraded from development tires this year to the new standard soft SC0 and medium SC1 tires, respectively.

“A distinctive element of Pirelli’s involvement in these championships is the direct transfer of the technologies used in the race to the tires destined for the market: the Diablo Superbike solutions used for racing are in fact identical to those marketed, thus making the link between racing activities and road products direct.

“As far as the allocation for this Grand Prix is concerned, the standard configuration adopted in the last two seasons is confirmed: the soft SC0 rear solutions for Moto2 and SC1 for Moto3, mainly in combination with the soft SC1 front for both classes, will probably represent the reference choice for this year’s races as well because the Buriram circuit lends itself well to the use of soft solutions capable of offering greater levels of grip with the usually high asphalt temperatures that are found at this time of year in Thailand.”

Related news, Dunlop extends MXGP official tire partnership in multi-year deal

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Following a partnership data and telemetry specialist Race Data Labs (RDL) and consultation with drivers, Formula Drift has announced changes to the race format for the 2026 season.

Formula Drift has a history of making changes to enhance the experience for teams and fans. After two years of the All-Tandem Qualifying format, the organizers held two driver summits to gather feedback and suggestions. Based on these discussions and the recent implementation of a reliable data and telemetry system from Race Data Labs, Formula Drift will adjust the format according to the preferences expressed by the majority of drivers in each championship.

The outcome

The majority of Pro Championship drivers voted to remove the All-Tandem Seeding Bracket Qualification format, which was used to seed the Top 32 competition places.

In an effort to accommodate the wishes of each championship, the Formula Drift executives had to consider that any format change requiring extended track time could necessitate cutting the number of drivers in either championship to ensure there was sufficient time for practice, qualifying and competition on “combined weekends,” where both Pro and Prospec Championships compete. Without making concessions, the return to the longer Two-Run Qualifying format could have led to major disruptions to the required practice and qualifying time prior to Top 32 competition.

As Single-Run Qualifying had proven insufficient, options for replacing the All-Tandem format in Pro were limited. In response, Formula Drift partnered with Race Data Labs to implement its UDSM (Universal Drift Scoring Method). The Australia-based telemetry company will automate objective elements of individual qualifying runs, enabling a return to Two-Run Qualifying for the Pro Championship within existing weekend schedules.

Under the new system, approximately 80% of a Pro driver’s qualifying score will be automated. The UDSM platform will quantify and score drift line and car angle. The remaining 20%, based on driving style, will continue to be evaluated by the three Formula Drift judges, as it requires subjective assessment of difficulty and driver errors. Style scoring will be separated from the automated categories.

In addition to supporting Two-Run Qualifying, the RDL system will be installed in all competition cars throughout the weekend. It will provide judges with consistent physical data during competition, including measurements of proximity, comparative angle and speed. The system will also quantify deceleration – building on the existing Decel Lights technology – and deliver clear data in the event of contact to help determine fault. It can also detect when a driver places one or more tires off course, simplifying position assessments.

Michael Vernuccio from Race Data Labs said, “Race Data Labs is beyond excited to integrate into the 2026 Formula Drift program. Our role will extend beyond traditional drift telemetry to help evolve the sport into a new era of digital judging. Our current UDSM system – a platform that supports drivers, teams, fans and competition operations, while evolving the process of judging itself – has been capturing drift telemetry for more than three years in 12 different countries, so its adoption by FD presents a new pathway for integration into the sport as a whole.”

Formula Drift president Ryan Sage added, “Michael and his team have created a truly powerful system. It’s been developed by highly talented operators who are drifters first, so UDSM carries the fingerprints of people who drift, and you can see that in its operation.

The RDL system will also be made available to the fans. “We can propel the sport forward by incorporating much of the UDSM data into our free-to-view livestream broadcasts,” Sage said. “By capturing, animating and dynamically transmitting the data, fans can share the robust backbone of the system and gain a greater understanding of the most nuanced motorsport series in the world.”

Related news, Red Bull Ford Powertrains reveals how metrology partner Hexagon helped shape its first F1 powertrain

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Porsche Motorsport has provided an update on development of its next Formula E race car, which has been undergoing testing since November 2025.

The new all-electric single-seater Gen4 Porsche complies with the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s fourth-generation vehicle regulations and features up to 600kW (804hp), permanent all-wheel drive, new tires and significantly increased downforce, representing the largest performance step in the series to date.

The Formula E Gen4 car is scheduled to debut in the 2026/27 season.

Porsche’s in-house vehicle components have been designed to be lighter, deliver higher performance, reduce costs and offer a longer service life. Development of this hardware package – Porsche’s most extensive package for Formula E to date – will continue until October, at which point the focus will shift to continuous software optimization. In many ways, the development cycles in the series mirror those for Porsche sports cars, albeit under extreme conditions.

“In Formula E, we primarily develop the technical components that are relevant for our production sports cars,” said Thomas Laudenbach, head of Porsche Motorsport. “That is one of the reasons why we compete in Formula E.”

With the introduction of Gen4, Porsche’s in-house development scope has expanded to include two additional components: the DC/DC converter and the brake-by-wire system.

In-house developments by Porsche to date include the operating software, pulse inverter, electric motor, gearbox, differential, drive shafts and other drivetrain components on the rear axle. Cooling, carrier and suspension components at the rear also come from Porsche.

“With the current car, the efficiency of our drivetrain is over 97%. From the battery to the wheel, less than 3% of the energy used is lost – close to perfection and a key advantage of electric drive,” said Florian Modlinger, director factory motorsport Formula E. “In our development brief for Gen4, alongside further efficiency gains in the drivetrain components, we focused on potential in terms of weight, durability and costs – similar to EVs for the road.

“At the same time, 600kW represents a 71% increase in power in Attack Mode. Overall, I believe it is fair to speak of a revolution. Seeing the car on track for the first time with its acceleration was a real pleasure. My thanks go to the development team in Flacht for this milestone in the project.”

Triple pressure: Gen3, Gen3 Evo and Gen4

By mid-January, the Gen4 Porsche had completed almost 915 test miles on the circuits of Monteblanco and Almería in Spain. A large proportion of the development and testing work, however, has taken place – and continues to take place – in the simulator.

“The concept phase began in 2024. In the same year, we moved into simulator work. The project therefore started during Season 10, when we were still racing the predecessor of the current Gen3 Evo, the Gen3,” Modlinger said. “At the time, we fought for all three titles right to the end, secured the Drivers’ Championship with Pascal – and at the same time developed the Gen3 Evo. We work in an agile way, similar to series-production projects: you run the existing vehicle, bring the facelift to market and already design the next generation. The difference is that our cycles are shorter and our budgets smaller – with maximum pressure to succeed. After all, we are contesting an FIA World Championship for Porsche.”

Porsche said that in the early testing phase, development focused on ensuring reliable operation and smooth interaction of all components. Over time, attention shifts toward performance. With Formula E’s limited test days, some findings are validated in a simulator. Porsche’s Customer team is also testing the new car ahead of FIA homologation, scheduled for the autumn.

Related news, Schneider Electric becomes McLaren Racing energy technology partner

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