Team Brazil by Claure Group secured a landmark win at the E1 Lagos GP presented by FirstBank, delivering the first all-electric RaceBird championship victory staged on African soil and setting the stage for a dramatic season finale in Miami.
The penultimate round of the UIM E1 World Championship unfolded on the Lagos Lagoon across 4–5 October 2025 and carried both sporting and symbolic weight: it was the series’ African debut, a test of electric marine racing in tropical conditions and a high-profile statement about Lagos as a venue for world-class, sustainability-driven sport. Qualifying had ended with Team Brazil on pole, ahead of Team Rafa and Aoki Racing Team. The two points awarded to Team Rafa for second place in qualifying briefly reclaimed the Championship lead from Team Brady by a single point, after the NFL-owned team suffered technical difficulties that curtailed its own challenge for pole position.
Race day was delayed by a tropical storm that swept over the lagoon, but when conditions permitted, the crews produced a tense, tactical contest. Team Brazil’s pilots, Timmy Hansen and Ieva Millere-Hagin, proved most adept at navigating the testing conditions; Hansen was named PIF Pilot of the Race. Virat Kohli’s Team Blue Rising took second place and Team Drogba Global Africa finished third, giving the home-continent entry a podium moment in front of thousands of spectators who lined the waterfront.
The result further tightened the championship narrative as teams head to the season decider. The weekend’s outcomes altered the leaderboard dynamics and intensified the duel for the title; Team Brady retook the World Championship lead and will carry that advantage into Miami, but the margin remains narrow and the contest unresolved.
Rodi Basso, founder and CEO of E1, spoke to the wider significance of the weekend: “The warm welcome we have received in Lagos has been incredible. The people and passion of Nigeria has made this historic E1 Lagos GP presented by FirstBank possible, and I feel a great sense of pride that we have made racing here a reality. Our ambition is to build a motorsport legacy in Africa. This weekend’s race is just the beginning and today’s qualifying sessions have provided a thrilling taste of what’s to come on race day tomorrow.” After the race he added, “We made history in Lagos today. This weekend’s race is a landmark moment for our World Championship and for Africa, proving the continent’s appetite for motorsport, sustainability, and technological innovation.”
The presence of football icon Didier Drogba and co-owner Gabrielle Lemaire, who supported Team Drogba Global Africa from the waterfront, underscored the event’s crossover appeal and its local resonance. The fan zone, commercial activations and festival atmosphere around Victoria Island reflected a broader ambition: to position Lagos not simply as a temporary host but as a city capable of staging major international events that combine sport, culture and sustainability messaging.
Beyond the podium and pageantry, the Lagos stop highlighted the practical contours of E1’s proposition: RaceBirds and electric propulsion align competitive spectacle with a low-emission narrative, while the event creates opportunities for partnerships in clean-energy technology, marine innovation and the blue economy. At the same time, the weekend surfaced operational realities thus; weather, waterfront logistics and community inclusion that organizers and host authorities will need to manage as the series seeks to embed itself in new regions.
Lagos now joins Monaco, Dubrovnik and Doha among cities that have hosted an E1 race and the Championship moves on to a North American finale where the 2026 “Champions of the Water” will be determined. With the title fight still very much alive, Miami promises a high-stakes conclusion after a weekend in Lagos that mixed firsts, fierce competition and clear intent.
For the sport, the city and the series, the message was straightforward: electric marine racing can work at scale in Africa, and when it does, it brings new audiences, new investment and a renewed emphasis on sustainable innovation for regional waterways.
