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Formula One world champion Lewis Hamilton has announced he will have a team competing in the inaugural all-electric off-road racing Extreme E series next year.

Extreme E is a series founded by the same team behind Formula E, with races hosted across the globe to promote electrification, sustainability and equality.

Its maiden season will be staged in five remote locations which have already been damaged or affected by climate issues, including the Arctic and the Amazon, raising awareness of climate change.

Hamilton, 35, called the opportunity to have his own team an “exciting new project” and said the series appealed to him because of its “environmental focus.”

“Every single one of us has the power to make a difference, and it means so much to me that I can use my love of racing, together with my love for our planet, to have a positive impact,” he said in a statement.

“I’m looking forward to the team taking part in this new series and I think it’s incredible that we can do so whilst raising awareness about the climate crisis.”

The six-time world champion’s team, X44, is named in reference to his F1 racing number and will enter season one of the Extreme E Championship. The first X Prix race is scheduled to take place in early 2021.

READ: The 13-year-old aiming to become Ferrari’s first female Formula 1 driver

Hamilton has long been an advocate for a greener world. In a series of messages posted on his Instagram account last year, he labeled the world a “mess” and wrote that he felt like “giving up on everything” before encouraging everyone to go vegan.

Extreme E will work with scientific experts from the universities of Oxford and Cambridge to raise awareness on specific issues, such as rising carbon emissions, melting ice caps, deforestation, desertification, droughts, plastic pollution and rising sea levels.

Each race will incorporate two laps over a distance of approximately 16 kilometers (10 miles), with two drivers – one male and one female – completing a lap apiece.

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Races will not be open to spectators, to minimize the effect on the environment, with fans instead following the action on TV.

The command center for the championship series will be on board the RMS St. Helena, a ship undergoing a multi-million euro transformation to minimize emissions and transform her into the championship’s operations hub.

X44 is the seventh team to sign up, joining Chip Ganassi Racing, Andretti Autosport, Abt, HWA, Techeetah, QEV Technologies, and fellow British-owned outfit, Veloce Racing.

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Formula E driver Daniel Abt has been suspended by his Audi team for using a professional esports gamer to compete for him.

Abt had been taking part in the ‘Race at Home Challenge’ which raised funds for the UNICEF coronavirus relief fund.

After being found not to have driven his car himself in the qualifying and fifth race of the series on Saturday, May 23, Abt apologized and was disqualified from the race as well as being fined 10,000 euros ($10,956).

Audi has now suspended the driver “with immediate effect.”

“Integrity, transparency and consistent compliance with applicable rules are top priorities for Audi – this applies to all activities the brand is involved in without exception,” Audi said in a statement.

READ: Four-time world champion Sebastian Vettel will leave Ferrari at the end of the season

Suspicions were initially aroused about Abt’s driving after the 27-year-old German qualified in second place and finished third in the actual race having not scored a point in the first four rounds of the series.

“Really not happy here because that was not Daniel driving the car himself, and he messed up everything. That was ridiculous,” said former F1 driver Stoffel Vandoornen on his Twitch stream. “I’m questioning if it was really Daniel in the car.”

“Please ask Daniel Abt to put his Zoom on next time he’s driving, because like Stoffel said, I’m pretty sure he wasn’t in,” two-time FE champion Jean-Eric Vergne said.

Following an investigation by Formula E on Sunday, which included IP address verification, it was concluded that Abt could not have been behind the wheel.

The gamer who replaced Abt is widely reported to be 18-year-old Lorenz Hoerzing, who competes in the FE Challenge series, a parallel championship for esport drivers. CNN has reached out to Hoerzing via his Allied esports team for comment but had not received a response at the time of publication.

Abt released an apology shortly afterwards in which he accepted his disqualification

“I would like to apologize to Formula E, all of the fans, my team and my fellow drivers for having called in outside help during the race on Saturday,” said Abt, who has promised to provide a further update on the story later on Tuesday.

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“I did not take it as seriously as I should have. I am aware that my offence has a bitter aftertaste, but it was never meant with any bad intention.”