As Extreme E heads to Italy for the NEOM Island X Prix, co-organised by the Automobile Club d’Italia and Regione Sardegna, those ranked eighth to tenth in the Championship will be aiming to come back swinging.
ABT Cupra XE, JBXE, and Veloce Racing all showed signs at the Desert X Prix that they have the pace to compete near the front of what looks set to be a tightly fought Season 2.
Sitting at the bottom of the standings with four, two and one point respectively, the current back runners will be giving it their all to get to the front of the grid.
ABT Cupra got off to a shaky start in NEOM. With Dakar Rally legend, but Extreme E rookie, Nasser Al-Attiyah making his debut, the team were vulnerable to mistakes as the Qatari driver got used to his new environment.
Al-Attiyah made a strong first impression, showing impressive pace as he completed his first lap of Qualifying. But his run didn’t end as planned, when the four-time Dakar winner missed the final gate, putting ABT Cupra down to eighth in Q1.
Q2 followed a similar pattern. As the front three pulled away, the ABT Cupra XE car passed Sainz Snr. on the inside, but Al-Attiyah’s pace caused him to miss the flag and, in recovering, he collided with the Spaniard. Sainz Snr. brought the damaged ODYSSEY 21 back to the Switch Zone before retiring from the Heat at the hands of his old Dakar rival.
After the Stewards reviewed the collision, ABT Cupra were classified last of the four runners in Heat 1, with the team relegated to ninth overall, leaving them to compete in the Crazy Race.
ABT Cupra XE then battled it out with McLaren XE, JBXE, and Veloce Racing for the last available spot in the Desert X Prix Final. Jutta Kleinschmidt used her experience to keep the front two runners, Kevin Hansen and Emma Gilmour, in her sights as she made her way to the Switch Zone.
Al-Attiyah then took over the ABT Cupra and began to chase down McLaren XE’s Tanner Foust who in turn was making ground on JBXE’s Molly Talyor. Al-Attiyah soon passed Taylor with ease in the final corners, but Foust had already charged past to secure McLaren XE’s place in the Final.
NEOM was somewhat of a rollercoaster for JBXE. Jenson Button’s outfit, which now includes inaugural Extreme E champion Molly Taylor, entered the Desert X Prix with heads held high with their new addition and third place finish in the series last season.
Hansen and Taylor looked to ride that momentum as they headed into Qualifying. The pair seemed to be working together well, each contributing a confident run to put JBXE third in the five-car race that was Qualifying 2 Heat 2.
This wasn’t enough to secure the team a spot in the Semi-Finals however as they were held back in Q1 by damage and could only finish the round in ninth.
JBXE made winning the Crazy Race their calling card in Extreme E Season 1, and they looked to be on a mission to retain that title. Hansen stormed into the lead, maintaining a comfortable buffer between himself and the chasing pack as he entered the Switch Zone. Teammate Taylor could only hold onto the lead until the final corners, when McLaren XE’s Foust and Cupra’s Al-Attiyah put JBXE down into third and ninth in the Championship standings.
What initially appeared to be a tired Kevin Hansen turned out to be an injury for the Swede, as he lay on the ground by the Switch Zone with a cracked vertebrae 8.
Hansen is back behind the wheel of a racing car again, and both he and the JBXE team will be desperate for a maiden Extreme E victory in Sardinia.
Veloce Racing experienced the highs and lows of top-level motorsport during the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia in February, showing huge promise in the Desert X Prix.
Veloce Racing’s dynamic duo showed impressive pace in Qualifying. Lance Woolridge produced a spectacular opening lap as he embarked on his first full Extreme E campaign for the British team. However, with just a few corners remaining and seemingly storming to a P1 finish, Veloce debutant Christine GZ carried too much speed into a late left-hander, which ended in a dramatic barrel roll.
GZ was taken to hospital where it was confirmed she had fractured her foot, and an intensive course of rehab was to follow. Following months of hard work and clearance from the medical team, GZ has been passed fit to race in Sardinia.
Veloce Racing failed to repair the car in time for the five-car Heats of Q2, leaving them to tussle with the bottom four of Qualifying in the Crazy Race. Determined to get to the front of the pack, Woolridge was undermined by a huge bounce that left him vulnerable to a spectacular overtake from McLaren XE’s Emma Gilmour.
The unfortunate bounce had caused further damage than first impressions gave away, and Veloce’s ODYSSEY 21 was soon crawling home in last place.
While a run of bad luck left Veloce on the back foot after the season opener, the team have been working hard at testing to build on the speed they showed in NEOM and escape that bottom spot in the standings.
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