On 24 September 2021, a provisional five-round calendar was revealed, which included a return to Saudi Arabia for the season opener in February, an African event, a second Arctic X-Prix in Greenland or Iceland, and two trips to South America.[2] A further update was announced on 22 December 2021. Saudi Arabia and Italy return from the previous year, with new events to be held in Chile, Uruguay and either Scotland or Senegal.[3]
Rule changes regarding the race format were introduced for the start of the season. Qualifying now consists of one round of qualifying time trial and another of qualifying races, with the latter comprising two five-car heats. The intermediate classification points system was kept but updated to accomodate the introduction of heats (10 points for the time trial winner down to 1 for the last-placed team; 10, 8, 6, 4 and 2 for the heats), but championship points are no longer awarded based on combined qualifying results, in an attempt to put the primary focus on the races. The progression to the semi-finals was also slightly tweaked: fourth and fifth now advance to semi-final 1, while sixth moves on to semi-final 2; as a new team entered the championship, four cars now compose the "crazy race". Lastly, a new scoring system akin to the one used in Formula 1, albeit with the five extra points for the "super sector", was implemented.[4]
Teams and drivers[]
The following teams and drivers are currently contracted to compete in the 2022 Championship. All teams use one of the identical Odyssey 21 electric SUVs manufactured by Spark Racing Technology, with AbtCupra XE and Chip Ganassi Racing running modified bodyworks.[5][6] Each team consists of a male and a female driver, who share a car and have equal driving duties.[7]