As racing got underway in Sardinia, NEOM McLaren Extreme E looked to build on a performance that took them to the Final on debut in NEOM, Saudi Arabia.
Led by drivers Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour, NEOM McLaren Extreme E thrilled on track as the team won the Crazy Race on its first attempt, but a nasty accident for Foust in the Final denied them a shot at victory in their first ever X Prix.
A similarly promising start saw NEOM McLaren Extreme E turning heads as they came third overall in Shakedown at the start of the week in Sardinia. However, come the weekend, the team had crashed at the NEOM Island X Prix I and finished third in Semi-Final 2 of the second part of the double-header, co-organised by Automobile Club d’Italia and Regione Sardegna.
NEOM McLaren Extreme E’s hopes of making it two Crazy Race wins from two ended in a big crash for Emma Gilmour just metres from the start line. Following Tanner Foust’s crash in the Desert X Prix Final, that’s two rolls in two races as the team take on their maiden Extreme E campaign.
Gilmour and Foust currently sit seventh in the Championship standings on 19 points, but with two rounds to go and second place only on 43 points, there is every chance NEOM McLaren Extreme E could climb up the Championship standings.
The team went into the first Qualifying of the week with heads held high, until a technical issue for Foust in Q1 resulted in a DNF. The five-car Heats in Q2 offered a shot at redemption, which NEOM McLaren Extreme E seized, coming second in their Heat behind the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team.
Their DNF in Q1 ensured that the team would take on ABT CUPRA XE, Veloce Racing, and eventual X Prix winners No.99 GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing in the Crazy Race, where their event ended with Gilmour’s crash in the early stages.
Following an impressive rebuild by the team, Gilmour and Foust took on Qualifying in the second part of the double-header. Despite driving a hastily repaired ODYSSEY 21, both drivers put in solid performances to secure fourth place in Qualifying 1.
The second Qualifying session saw an exciting battle between Foust and ABT Cupra XE’s Nasser Al-Attiyah, as the American managed to squeeze in front of the Qatari driver to take third as the team’s headed into the narrow part of the course.
Gilmour and Jutta Kleinschmidt took over the fight in second and third, respectively after the driver change, and the New Zealander brought the car home in second for NEOM McLaren Extreme E in Q2 Heat 2.
Kleinschmidt and Gilmour came head-to-head again in Semi-Final 2 in a tense duel that saw the former defending her second place impeccably to keep the latter at bay.
The order was maintained as the trio entered the Switch Zone, with ABT CUPRA XE managing to extend their gap after the driver switch to ensure a third place for NEOM McLaren Extreme E and the end of the double-header for the team.
Emma Gilmour, NEOM McLaren Extreme E, said: “We’re really happy with our bounce back for Round 3. Tanner and I pushed to repay the efforts of the team’s hard work rebuilding the car to get us to qualifying yesterday. It was great to qualify in P3, it’s a really competitive field and we showed that we’ve got the pace to be here on our first visit as a team.
“So we just have to focus forward now. It was really disappointing not to get through to the Final, I knew I had the pace to be able to hand over to Tanner in a good position, but I just couldn’t cleanly get past. I was able to get the car back in one piece and hand it to Tanner, but unfortunately it was too big of a gap for him to chase down. It’s positive for us heading to Chile because we’ve shown how hard we can fight when other teams have an advantage at a track they’ve already raced on, and we’re right there with them. Bring on Chile.”
Tanner Foust, NEOM McLaren Extreme E, said: “What a rollercoaster of a weekend. The double header adds a solid amount of track time, which was great for learning the track, but very difficult on the team. The crew really were the heroes of the event, doing a 100-hour job in amazing time.
“Round 3 was a big improvement on Round 2 with a P3 in qualifying in a group that had a lot more experience on this track and in the series. But some unfortunate mishaps in the Semi-Final put us on our heels and passing in the dust was just not possible. Our weekend ended at the Semi-Final, but the crew can be proud of the fact we even made it into Round 3. We have a clean machine and a lot of lessons learnt heading into Round 4.”
Extreme E looks ahead for the final two rounds where the Championship will race in South America for the first time. The Championship will arrive in Antofagasta, Chile, for the Copper X Prix on September 24-25, before the Season 2 finale in Punte del Este, Uruguay, for the Energy X Prix on November 26-27.
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