LeBron James-backed Team AlUla Wins E1 Blue Impact Championship

The E1 all-electric raceboat team championed by famous basketball player, LeBron James, Team AlUla, has won the 2026 E1 Blue Impact Championship presented by Bombay Sapphire.

The Blue Impact Championship recognises the E1 team that has delivered the most robust and impactful sustainability programme throughout the season.

Team AlUla won for their Powered by Data. Driven by Impact. programme, which was deemed to most holistically align with the strategic pillars of the Blue Impact Championship. Aoki Racing Team owner, music producer and DJ Steve Aoki presented the award alongside Tara King, Bombay Sapphire Senior Brand Director.

As part of the programme, the team continued its partnership with WATR, a monitoring solutions provider, to deploy real-time water quality monitoring technology at every race. They launched a live public dashboard in December and planted one mangrove propagule for every WATR reading in the season, totalling 3,200 propagules so far in 2026.

In Luanda, Team AlUla partnered with the Kissama Foundation to publish a bilingual edition of “Cori, the Turtle in Danger” to tell the story of Team AlUla. One thousand copies were printed and are expected to reach over 20,000 children in schools and Kissama hubs around Angola.

E1, the world’s first all-electric raceboat Championship, celebrates the second edition of its Blue Impact Championship presented by Bombay Sapphire, part of the series’ wider Blue Impact Programme.

The Championship encourages teams to use their platforms to support ocean conservation, engage local communities and develop projects that deliver measurable environmental and social benefits.

Now in its second year, the award event brought together E1 partners, stakeholders and local sustainability experts for an afternoon of sustainability panel discussions, followed by the award ceremony.

New for 2026, three additional award categories alongside the overall Blue Impact Championship title.

Last year’s overall winners, Team Brady, claimed the Environmental Impact Award for doubling their ocean plastic removal pledge launched in 2025 with strategic partner 4Ocean Foundation. In 2026, 200 kilograms of plastic were removed for every Championship point Team Brady obtained, meaning over 30 tonnes after five of the seven rounds this season.