On the 9th of October 2025 history was made. The first ever hydrogen powered race cars sped through the desert of Saudi Arabia’s entertainment, culutre and sport focused city – Qiddya. The FIA Extreme H World Cup was born – the world’s first hydrogen fuel cell SUV, gender equal motorsport championship.
Newly released FIA timing data, published on the 3rd of December 2025 has confirmed a landmark breakthrough for equality in global motorsport, with male and female drivers separated by the smallest performance margin ever recorded at elite level.
The data, compiled after the championship’s first-ever competitive event, which debuted in Qiddiya City, shows an average gap of just 0.36 seconds between male and female lap times across a two-minute circuit.
Qiddiya Hosts Historic First Race
The Extreme H World Cup’s opening race in Qiddiya City marked the global competitive debut of the world’s first hydrogen-powered motorsport championship. Designed from inception around equality and sustainability, the series aligns closely with the objectives of Saudi Vision 2030, which seeks to position the Kingdom as a global leader in sport, technology, and future-focused industries. In poetic fashion, the Kingdom represented by Jameel Motorsport won the inaugural first place trophy with drivers Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen.
The staging of Extreme H in Qiddiya City strengthens the destination’s position as a future global capital for sport and entertainment. Designed around innovation and performance excellence, Qiddiya provided the ideal setting for a championship that integrates sustainability, technological advancement and equal opportunity on the world stage.
With the debut event now complete, the newly released FIA data provides proof that the championship’s equal-gender format delivers real, measurable results at the highest level of performance.
The 2025 FIA Extreme H World Cup features an elite lineup of female drivers racing head-to-head with male teammates in identical hydrogen-powered vehicles. The grid includes Molly Taylor (Jameel Motorsport), Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (Team KMS), Catie Munnings (Team Hansen), Klara Andersson (Carl Cox Motorsport), Hedda Hosås (Team EVEN), Christine GZ (JBX), Amanda Sorensen (STARD) and Gray Leadbetter (ZEROID Motorsport).
Their performances in Saudi Arabia reflect a central Vision 2030 principle: when opportunity is equal, talent determines outcome.
Commenting on this data, Burcu Çetinkaya, Chair of the FIA Women in Motorsport Commission, said: “The FIA Extreme H World Cup sets a new benchmark for equality in motorsport. Its equal-gender format is data-driven and proves that when opportunity is truly equal, performance is defined by talent – not gender.”
She continues, “Equal opportunity also means equal time and access to expertise. Many females enter the sport but don’t receive the same development time, which impacts results. Encouragingly, in the FIA Extreme H World Cup, the data shows the performance gap – measured in seconds – has been decreasing significantly.”
Building a Saudi Motorsport Ecosystem
Central to the championship’s delivery is the involvement of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund (PIF), which serves as a principal partner of the FIA Extreme H World Cup. Through its backing of Extreme H, PIF is supporting a motorsport model that embeds gender equality into the competitive structure itself, with male and female drivers competing on equal terms in identical machinery. The series also aligns with PIF’s broader strategy of investing in future-facing sports and technologies, using motorsport as a platform to advance clean mobility, innovation, and inclusion — all key pillars of Vision 2030.
The success of Jameel Motorsport reflects the Kingdom’s maturing motorsport ecosystem – spanning teams, drivers, infrastructure and strategic investment.
After winning the opening race of the FIA Extreme H World Cup, Jameel Motorsport went on to receive international recognition at the FIA Awards Gala in Tashkent, Uzbekistan on the 12th of December, where the team collected its official FIA award.
Collecting the award on behalf of Jameel Motorsport was managing director Munir Khoja. He says, “We are honoured to receive the FIA Award for winning the FIA World Cup Extreme H – a proud moment as a Saudi motorsport team to be the first team ever to achieve this milestone. From vision to victory, this is just the beginning.”
This progress reflects ongoing investment in driver development pathways, engineering capabilities, clean mobility technologies and purpose-built venues such as Qiddiya City. Collectively, these factors contribute to the development of a national motorsport ecosystem aligned with Vision 2030, supporting both domestic capacity-building and international collaboration.
As Saudi drivers, teams and partners continue to integrate into global championships like Extreme H, the Kingdom’s role is evolving from host nation to competitive force and industry leader, demonstrating how strategic investment in sport can deliver excellence, sustainability and international recognition.
