Rosberg X Racing completed a sweep of Extreme E’s Island X Prix after dominating the second final of the weekend in Sardinia.
After inheriting victory from the penalized GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing on Saturday, RXR’s Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky took a comprehensive victory on the road on Sunday.
With most of the five-car field coming together at the start as they fought for the crucial middle line through the first Waypoint, RXR initially slipped back to fourth, but rocketed through to the lead as everyone else scrapped for space on track.
Acciona Sainz’s Mattias Ekstrom emerged in second and set about mounting an early challenge, and was right on Kristoffersson’s bumper on the run to Waypoint 5 on the second lap, making contact a gate later. That allowed Ganassi’s RJ Anderson to close up to the pair and Kristoffersson to build a 1.803s lead going into the mid-race driver change.
Laia Sanz continued the charge for Acciona Sainz, with Ahlin-Kottulinsky now needing to defend RXR’s lead — a lead which grew to over three seconds at the start of lap three, before Sanz clawed back a second.
The charge continued on the final lap, Sanz getting to within 0.837s of Ahlin-Kottulinsky, but the high dust levels halted her progress and she eventually crossed the line 2.444s adrift of the winner.
Andretti Altawkilat’s Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings — bouncing back from a race-ending roll yesterday that had the team remaining at the track late into the night to rebuild their Odyssey 21 race car — took third with a last gasp pass on the Ganassi entry as they crossed the line.
JBXE’s Hedda Hosas and Andreas Bakkerud, appearing in their first final this year and the team’s first final since the first part of last year’s Sardinia double-header, rounded out the finishers, 13 seconds back
Island X Prix II Final
- Rosberg X Racing 8m 54.133
- Acciona Sainz +2.444
- Andretti Altawkilat +7.185
- GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing +7.759
- JBXE +13.028
RXR’s win capped off the perfect day for the team after it won both of its qualifying heats, the other two going the way of Veloce Racing and Acciona Sainz.
Veloce’s Timmy Hansen and Molly Taylor came into the weekend as points leaders, but missed the Saturday final, and suffered the same fate on Sunday too. The team initially qualified for the main, but a Q2 penalty for Carl Cox Motorsport’s Timo Scheider and Lia Block elevated JBXE at their expense. Compounding the result was a power steering failure, and subsequent contact that left Veloce finishing last in their Q2 heat, leaving their fate in the hands of others. It was a cruel blow for the team, with Hansen and Taylor being the fastest male and female drivers over a single lap all day as well.
In the redemption race, for the five teams that didn’t make the main, Abt Cupra’s Sebastien Loeb and Klara Andersson survived contact at the start with NEOM McLaren (Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour) to win ahead of Veloce, with X44 Vida Carbon Racing’s Fraser McConnell and Cristina Gutierrez third.
The HOLE SHOT from @SebastienLoeb! 🚀 #ExtremeE #RaceForThePlanet #IslandXPrix #ACISport #Sardegna pic.twitter.com/1tqKBhkisr
— Extreme E (@ExtremeELive) July 9, 2023
McLaren finished a distant fourth, with Carl Cox Motorsport the final finisher, albeit a lap down after a puncture.
Island X Prix II Redemption Race
- Abt Cupra 8m 41.225
- Veloce Racing +2.031
- X44 Vida Carbon Racing +21.514
- NEOM McLaren +41.680
- Carl Cox Motorsport + 1 lap