Acciona Sainz topped practice for the Desert X Prix as the fourth Extreme E season got underway in Saudi Arabia.
Laia Sanz and Fraser McConnell’s combined four-lap time of 10m05.933s was 1.21s quicker than defending champions Rosberg X Racing (Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Johan Kristoffersson), despite a dramatic moment for McConnell at the end of the team’s run.
Coming over the final jump, just before the finish line, McConnell landed the car on its nose, destroying the front bodywork, but the damage proved to be only superficial and he was able to continue the final few meters to the finish line without issue.
Andretti Altawkilat’s Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen were third fastest, a further four tenths back, despite Hansen setting session-best times in sectors two and three, while McLaren’s new pairing of Cristina Gutierrez and Mattias Ekstrom topped the morning session, but wound up fourth in the afternoon, aided by penalties for a couple of teams.
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E.ON Veloce Racing’s Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen would have been fourth but for a pair of 10 second penalties — one of each driver — for knocking over waypoint flags. Sixth placed SUN Minimeal (Klara Andersson and Timo Schieder) were also hit with a 15.2s penalty for speeding in the Switch Zone.
Legacy Motor Club’s Travis Pastrana and Gray Leadbetter were seventh quickest on their first day in Extreme E, with JBXE’s Dania Akeel and Andreas Bakkerud completing the runners in eighth, more than a minute off the pace.