Last season’s Extreme E Championship Drivers Timo Scheider and Tamara Molinaro are now podium finishers in the series, after securing XITE ENERGY Racing’s best-ever result.
The team’s all-new driver line-up made an instant impact at the NEOM Island X Prix I, co-organised by the Automobile Club d’Italia and Regione Sardegna, to finish second in Sardinia after on-track winners Rosberg X Racing (RXR) received a 30-second time penalty which dropped them to third.
For Molinaro, it was made even more special as the Italian stood on the podium on home soil, while it was a dream debut for Scheider to secure second on his maiden X Prix start.
Timo Scheider, XITE ENERGY Racing, said: “We definitely caused a surprise on our very first outing!
“I am just so happy for the team. The guys have been working day and night for the last couple of days just to keep the car in good shape and we succeeded. It feels so good to end up on the podium on the first go – I just love it!”
“After the red flag, I told Tamara to have fun out there. Even though we knew that Kevin [Hansen] was coming, she was just super cool. It is a great result for us and the team.”
XITE ENERGY Racing reached the Final after finishing second to RXR in Semi-Final 1.
The team were third heading into the Switch Zone, but on the final lap managed to get ahead of Genesys Andretti United Extreme E’s Catie Munnings to claim a Final spot.
After the collision between RXR’s Kristofferson and ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team’s Carlos Sainz Snr. brought out the red flag in the Final, it was left to Molinaro to fend off JBXE to claim a podium finish. That they did, and after the time-penalty was delivered to RXR, they managed to finish in the top-two.
Could they go one better in the second part of Extreme E’s Sardinian double-header?
Tamara Molinaro, XITE ENERGY Racing, added: “There was a lot of work to do at the start of the week, but it is such a good feeling to repay the team with not only their first Final, but also their first podium. They’ve been working so hard to get the car ready in the last few days so I’m so happy for them!
“There’s still a lot of room for improvement for me and Timo, although we have gelled really quickly. It’s just the beginning and we have just started to put everything together and learn more about the car.
“There’s no tactics for the race at the weekend. It’s literally getting more used to the car and getting faster and faster and getting to know how we can improve. We are just enjoying it – especially for me here at home – and I hope this will not be our last podium.”
The second part of the NEOM Island X Prix double-header begins this weekend (9-10 July). Find out where you can watch the action here.
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