12 country provisional Extreme E calendar was ploy to attract highest bidders

The all-electric SUV off-road racing championship will retain a five-round schedule for next season, with the final list of venues set to be announced before the end of the calendar year.

But the publicly released first draft, issued in September, currently has 12 shortlisted venues.

Of those, the 10-11 September date is the most oversubscribed – as Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Costa Rica are all penciled in.

These 12 locations also do not include the Outer Hebrides, which in October received a pledge of £1 million from Chancellor Rishi Sunak as part of his latest budget.

Extreme E co-founder Alejandro Agag confirmed to Autosport that going public with such a long list of potential destinations was part of a plan to attract the highest-paying host venues.

Further explaining the initially confusing schedule, Agag told Autosport: "It's my fault.

“It's a bit naughty. I want to negotiate with venues.

“We're not a charity. We're a business here and there is a lot of interest from many places.

“You'll be surprised as soon as you don't get it for granted how much interest goes up.”

Claudia Hurtgen, Mattias Ekstrom, ABT CUPRA XE

Photo by: Charly Lopez / Motorsport Images

Referencing anticipated talks with hosts who thought their slot on the calendar was certain, Agag continued: “'No, no - what do you mean you're going to go there?'

“I'm going to Latin America for a big tour.

“Five countries were interested and it may not be Brazil, it may be another one.

“That's why we did it. We will have to make choices.”

The inaugural Extreme E season concludes in Dorset this weekend, with the Bovington military base finding its way onto the calendar along with Sardinia as replacements venues.

They were drafted onto the schedule as the Brazil and Argentina rounds were cancelled due to travel restrictions forcing course recces to be called off.

Asked by Autosport if Agag still had to honour the contracts with Brazil and Argentina by guaranteeing their place on future calendars, he said: “No. I am totally free.

“With Brazil, we have an agreement with the landowner but it's totally fine.

“In Argentina, they're very keen and I'm going to see the government, two presidents of countries there, there's huge interest.”

Agag has also defended the inclusion of such rich economies for a championship that exists to draw attention to the climate crisis.

The Spaniard reckons Extreme E exists to more “explain” the issues which are destroying local environments rather than to “help” with widescale, hands-on initiatives.