Acciona Sainz – Syndication Server

Sainz and McConnell riding high after a strong Extreme E start

Acciona Sainz came within a lap of winning the Extreme E championship in 2023, and with that painful heartbreak still fresh in the mind – after all, last season’s finale was only two short months ago – the team was keen to get this year off to a …

Saturday’s Desert X Prix final brought an unlucky slow roll in deep sand and perhaps wasn’t the best start to the team’s latest crusade, but a victory in Sunday’s final more than made up for it.

“I think it was a fantastic way to start the season for the team,” team boss Carlos Sainz Sr. told RACER. “It’s very good for the confidence of the team, also the way we finished last year was very hard and we were a little bit down. Saturday wasn’t easy, but in the end this victory will give the whole team a good boost, the drivers good confidence, and for the morale, it’s really the best way to start.”

The win was Acciona Sainz’s third in Extreme E, and a repeat of last year when it won the second part of the season opener then, too. A key difference this time around, though, was the addition of Fraser McConnell who joined the team in the off season, replacing Mattias Ekstrom, and the former X44 man is already impressing his new boss.

“Yesterday, obviously he was honestly unlucky… He really did a fantastic job the whole weekend, settled really well in the team,” said Sainz. “I was sure he was going to deliver, but now he delivered a very good race, a very good weekend. Now we just need to keep pushing, keep working. This is only the first step.”

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Joining such a high caliber team and replacing an equally high caliber driver, McConnell knew he had big shoes to fill, but is relishing the opportunity to work with the Spanish outfit.

“Joining a team with everyone who’s so experienced, so knowledgeable with the car, a really professional group of guys and Laia (Sanz) of course is so fast – Last year she proved herself to be the fastest girl bar none – I knew I was filling quite a big role,” he said. “I really prepared as much as I could and gave the team absolutely everything while I was out on track.

“Yesterday, maybe I tried too much, but if I see tomorrow, I’m going to do it again. It was a great feeling to come back again today and finish the weekend high.

“We know we can do it. We’re not here to participate, we’re here to win. Red Bull coming onboard as well, everyone at QEV, Acciona, Sparco have given me this chance to go out there and show that I can do it so I’m living the dream and I’m going to round three even stronger.”

McConnell these days is firmly established as one of off-road racing’s elite, but at Acciona Sainz he’s surrounded by legendary talent in teammates — the multiple trials champion Sanz, and double World Rally and recently-minted four-time Dakar Rally winner Sainz, both of whom he’s keen to keep impressing.

“There’s still such a far way for me to go,” he insisted. “It’s only my fifth year racing internationally, and Carlos was and still is an inspiration, so when you get to race for one of your childhood heroes you almost have to pinch yourself. I’ve been giving absolutely everything to try and make sure I’m going out there and doing what they signed me up for.”

McConnell pairs with Sanz on Acciona Sainz Extreme E team

Carlos Sainz’s Acciona Sainz team will aim to avenge its agonizing 2023 Extreme E title defeat as it returns to the category this year with a new-look team. Team stalwart Laia Sanz will once again drive for the outfit, being joined by Fraser …

Carlos Sainz’s Acciona Sainz team will aim to avenge its agonizing 2023 Extreme E title defeat as it returns to the category this year with a new-look team.

Team stalwart Laia Sanz will once again drive for the outfit, being joined by Fraser McConnell, with the team being backed by long-time Sanz and Sainz personal sponsor Red Bull.

McConnell joins the team following a promising first campaign for the recently-departed X44 outfit, with whom he won the first part of the Hydro X Prix in Scotland and the final Island X Prix race in Sardinia last year.

“I am so honored to be selected as the male driver for the Acciona Sainz team this year and I cannot wait to get started at the first event in Saudi Arabia on February 17 and 18,” said McConnell. “Receiving the call from Carlos asking me to join the team was such a surreal moment for me because growing up I was such a big fan and still to this day he is such an inspiration. He is also still such a fierce competitor so having that energy within the team is definitely going to help us win races and I am sure I will be able to learn many things from him.

“I am also very much looking forward to teaming up with Laia, who has been so fast the last few seasons and I can feel that we will be a very strong driver pairing and aim to win the championship together.”

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Speaking of the new driver signing, team boss Sainz said: “I would like to welcome Fraser to the team. He is a young and ambitious driver. He has the speed and the right attitude to grow even further. I think he will be a very good fit for the team and I am sure he will push to give us plenty of things to be happy about.

“Of course, I am very happy to have Laia again in the car. She is a really talented driver and she has developed a lot through these years, and she is especially eager to go for it after her great Dakar Rally and how close we were last season to winning the title.”

Sanz, who was partnered with new NEOM McLaren signing Mattias Ekstrom last year, came within a lap of taking the championship crown last season and feels they can go one better this year.

“I am really happy to continue racing for Acciona Sainz and I am really looking forward to starting working with Fraser, because I am sure he will bring a lot to us,” she said. “The team has grown a lot throughout this time and we have grown together. Last year we did a great job, even though we narrowly missed the title, and I am looking forward to continuing down this path.

“Today we feel like a family, we work really well together, always in sync, and I think it is very positive to continue to keep on improving. For me personally, I am really happy to continue in this team and I am eager to start the season. I think it is the best place to continue learning and fighting for victories.”

Attrition derails Acciona Sainz’s Extreme E title bid right at the wire

Acciona Sainz might not have entered Sunday’s Extreme E final with the points lead, but they exited the second corner of the four-lap race in the hot seat, looking on course to claim a maiden championship title. Not long after Mattias Ekstrom gave …

Not long after Mattias Ekstrom gave the team an early lead, teammate Laia Sanz dropped behind eventual race winner Molly Taylor of Veloce Racing at the start of the third lap, but kept the Australian in her crosshairs until a mechanical failure set off a chain reaction that turned Sanz upside down and derailed the team’s championship hopes.

“I had the pace to overtake Molly, so I was pushing because I knew from the radio that only position one was OKJ for us,” Sanz told RACER. “So I had to try, and then in one compression I almost had the inside. [But then] the car broke on the rear, so I spun.”

The spin was followed by a roll, ending a convincing championship hope instantly. With championship rivals Rosberg X Racing also facing their own share of issues, it resulted in a title ultimately being decided by elements out of both teams’ control.

“It’s a pity. It’s hard because I would prefer to lose it fighting on the track,” Sanz said. “I’m so sad for the guys because they did an amazing job. It feels bad, but I think we can be on the other side. I think we can be super proud. All championship we were one of the strongest teams, both Matias, the strongest man, and me, sometimes the strongest woman, so I think I can be proud of how the team grew.”

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The growth Sanz speaks of has been one of the key stories of the season. Before 2023, Acciona Sainz were perennial under-achievers in Extreme E, but turned that around this year to win the second round, after finishing second the day before. Another win followed in Sardinia, a venue where the team suffered a car-destroying crash last year.

“I think we can be proud, because we had the chance to fight for the championship until the last lap, so we can be proud of that,” she said. “Of course, it’s painful to lose it like that.

“Motorsport is like this, and when you don’t win you can learn a lot. Days like these are also good for learning, to give you more strength and motivation to keep working on improving and I’m sure we will come back stronger.”

Sanz herself has also enjoyed personal growth. Entering Extreme E three seasons ago as a multiple Trials Bike champion, she was among the least experienced drivers in the field. Now she’s considered one of its top performers and, almost as a warning to rivals for next year, she feels she still has room to grow.

“I still have a lot of room to improve,” she insisted. “When I arrived here I had no experience, I was one of the last women, and now I feel strong. I know I have the pace, but everybody works so hard, everybody’s improving.

“I’m happy because I’m maybe not the youngest, but I feel more like the rookies. All the other girls have experience and [were] driving cars and I’m quite new — only three seasons. I think I can be proud. The pace was there this year.”

Acciona Sainz team wins opening Island X Prix

Acciona Sainz ended Rosberg X Racing’s Extreme E winning streak in Sardinia after emerging from a chaotic final on the first day of this season’s second Island X Prix. Mattias Ekstom grabbed an early lead for the team after sweeping round the …

Acciona Sainz ended Rosberg X Racing’s Extreme E winning streak in Sardinia after emerging from a chaotic final on the first day of this season’s second Island X Prix.

Mattias Ekstom grabbed an early lead for the team after sweeping round the outside going into the first corner on the opening lap, powering past the fast-starting Carl Cox Motorsport entry of Timo Scheider, and resisting a challenge up the inside from Veloce Racing’s Kevin Hansen.

It was a relatively straightforward first half of the four-lap final, with Ekstrom bringing the Acciona Sainz car 4.525s ahead of Veloce’s Hansen at the mid-race driver switch. Hansen had snatched second after a fantastic move at the start of the second lap where he took a wide, off-line approach into the first waypoint before darting up the inside at the last second to take the place.

Veloce’s charge was stunted at the switch, however, when Hansen was slow to get out of the car, then the team scrambled to find an on-the-spot solution for its broken windshield wipers — the left one stopping and the right one detaching entirely during the second lap of the race.

Veloce’s issues allowed the Carl Cox team, now with Lia Block at the wheel, to emerge from the Switch Zone ahead of Veloce’s Molly Taylor, who had Abt Cupra’s Klara Andersson — who’d taken over from Sebastien Loeb — on her tail as well.

With Acciona Sainz’s Laia Sanz holding a clear lead going into the second half of the race, the focus was on the fight for the remaining podium places. Veloce’s visibility issues slowed Taylor but Andersson wasn’t able to find a way past at first. On the final lap, the Cupra driver did get by at Waypoint 4, only to immediately spin at the next gate as a result of suspension damage sustained from contact with Taylor.

That drama ought to have locked in second for Carl Cox Motorsport, but suspension issues resulting from Block’s own contact with Taylor meant she pulled off the course at Waypoint 7 on the final lap.

Andersson therefore wrested her three-wheeled Odyssey 21 home in second, 42.766s behind Sanz, while Molly Taylor miraculously finished third despite having no visibility for much of her stint in the car.

Fourth went to Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky — they finished a lap down after Kristoffersson stopped on the first lap to perform a power cycle in an attempt to quell power steering issues that ultimately proved unsuccessful.

Island X Prix II (Round 7) Final

Acciona Sainz 9m 47.173
Abt Cupra +42.766
Veloce Racing +1m 05.976
RXR +1 Lap
Carl Cox Motorsport DNF

Acciona Sainz’s win on Saturday afternoon not only put an end to a three-race Sardinia winning streak for RXR stretching back to last year (the team has won four from six round held on the Island so far), but it also capped off a dominant day for the Spanish team which won both of its qualifying heats.

Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekstrom of Acciona Sainz celebrate their Island X-Prix victory. Sam Bloxham/Motorsport Images

It won the first despite heavy contact with the Carl Cox team as both fought for the lead. Its Q2 victory was much more straightforward, with a lights-to-flag win ahead of championship rivals Veloce.

The other two qualifying heats were won by Abt Cupra and RXR respectively, Abt Cupra’s coming in somewhat controversial circumstances as it overturned a big deficit when it arrived at a slow zone area as the yellow flags were rescinded, the two cars in front (of RXR and Veloce) having been slowed by them earlier on, allowing it to carry speed through and breeze past both.

The Redemption Race for the five teams that didn’t qualify for the final was won by Andretti Altawkilat’s Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings after yet more slow zone drama. The leading GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing car slowed a waypoint too soon, which enabled Andretti and JBXE (Hedda Hosas and Andreas Bakkerud) to get by.

The slow zone was in place after Tamara Molinaro, subbing for the injured Emma Gilmour at NEOM McLaren, launched into a flip moments after the race start.

Molinaro and Hosas, the only two female drivers taking the start of the redemption race, came together on the run down to the first corner, with Molinaro bouncing off to the left, landing sideways and then flipping. She was uninjured in NEOM McLaren’s second car-destroying crash in as many days.

Island X Prix II (Round 7) Redemption Race

Andretti Altawkilat 10m 35.722
JBXE +7.492
GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing +11.998
X44 DNF
NEOM McLaren DNF

NEOM Extreme E breakthrough win poignant for Sanz and Ekstrom

Acciona Sainz’s first Extreme E win with drivers Mattias Ekstrom and Laia Sanz in the second race of the season in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, comes after two years of near-misses. Sanz, who has been a constant in the team during that time, was especially …

“Finally! We did a good job, not only this weekend, but these two years with Carlos (Sainz) and all the team,” she said. “I think he really deserved this win and they deserved this win, and I’m super-happy also with Mattias — he helped me so much and finally we got good results this weekend.

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The win was also a first for former-Abt Cupra driver Ekstrom, who was a late addition to the team, filling in for team boss Carlos Sainz. The rallying legend was sidelined by the spinal fractures he suffered in an accident during the Dakar Rally in January.

“It’s always great to win races and be on the podium, but I think this one is a little different as it was a late call because of Carlos’ accident at Dakar so he can’t drive,” he said. “I’m really happy that he called me and trusts me to step in for him, and then to get to meet Laia and the team has been a lot of fun.”

Despite the strong start to the season, with a second place and a win, Ekstrom predicts he won’t last long in the team, although he does expect to retain his seat for the Hydro X Prix in Scotland on May 13-14.

“Yeah, I think so,” he said when asked if he will be back for the next event. “Carlos will need more time to recover and I’m pretty sure when he is fit I’ll be sacked immediately!”

With a win and a second, and a reverse of that result on Sunday, Veloce and Acciona Sainz sit top of the points with 46. RXR occupy third, with X44 and Ganassi rounding out the top five.

Extreme E standings after Round 2

Veloce Racing 46 pts
Acciona Sainz 46 pts
Rosberg X Racing 31 pts
X44 Vida Carbon Racing 23 pts
GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing 21 pts
Abt Cupra XE 15 pts
NEOM McLaren Extreme E 14 pts
Carl Cox Motorsport 8 pts
JBXE 5 pts
Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E 5 pts

Acciona Sainz edges Veloce for NEOM Extreme E round 2 win

Acciona Sainz made it two new winners from two by taking its maiden victory in the second part of the Desert X Prix in Saudi Arabia. In a reverse of yesterday’s top-two, Mattias Ekstrom and Laia Sanz held off Veloce Racing’s Kevin Hansen and Molly …

Ekstrom made a strong getaway from the second spot on the inside of the grid, closing the door on Kevin Hansen right away to lead through the first Waypoint. Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson looked to challenge the lead pair but a sideways moment into Waypoint 2 dropped him back.

That wasn’t the only hiccup in the podium places, with Kevin Hansen accidentally hitting the pit limiter going into Waypoint 6, dropping him way off Ekstrom out in front. The mistake also allowed Kristoffersson to get by, but the positions reversed on the following lap when Hansen made a move around the outside going into Waypoint 13 stick, having tried a pass earlier in the lap on the approach to the beach.

Ekstrom’s lead at the mid-race driver switch was 6.326s and the top three positions remained firm for the final two laps when the female drivers — Sanz, Taylor, and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky of RXR — took over.

Sanz eventually crossed the line 5.527s ahead of Taylor, with Ahlin-Kottulinsky a further 1.902s back.

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The final two positions were occupied by Abt Cupra (Klara Andersson and Nasser Al-Attiyah) and GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing (RJ Anderson and Amanda Sorensen).

The Cupra team started the day with a 30-second penalty in their first heat race after switching to the championship’s spare car due to the extensive damage sustained by its primary yesterday, but a solid finish in that first race, and a win in the second, secured Cupra a spot in the final.

There, the team — which was the only one to run its female driver first — couldn’t quite match the pace of the leaders, but a storming charge from Al-Attiyah overturned a 20 second deficit, and moved the team up to fourth with a daring two-wheeled pass on Sorensen approaching Waypoint 6.

Desert X Prix II Final

1. Acciona Sainz 11m 10.821s
2. Veloce Racing +5.527
3. Rosberg X Racing +7.429
4. Abt Cupra +7.987
5. GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing +22.321

Ahead of the final, Veloce won its two qualifying heats — briefly losing the first to a speeding penalty that was quickly overturned after reviewing the in-car data. RXR and Abt Cupra won the others.

Veloce Racing shows the toll taken by the rugged action, here leading X44 Vida Carbon Racing. Colin McMaster/Motorsport Images

In the redemption race, X44 Vida Carbon Racing’s Fraser McConnel and Cristina Gutierrez won ahead of McLaren, Andretti Altawkilat, and Carl Cox Motorsport, with JBXE failing to make the finish.

Carl Cox Motorsport’s Timo Scheider had the best getaway, but his lead was short-lived as McConnell got by into the first turn. Behind them, McLaren’s Tanner Foust found a way past Andretti’s Timmy Hansen, that team finding itself in the consolation race after a third roll in two days during one of the earlier qualifying heats.

At the driver change, a slow stop for X44, with Gutierrez now at the wheel, handed a narrow lead to Carl Cox Motorsport’s Christine Giampaoli Zonca on the Switch Zone exit, but Gutierrez was to retake the point at Waypoint 6.

GZ’s race went from bad to worse on her second lap, with a slow, soft roll, and while she was able to finish the race, she fell to fourth behind McLaren’s Emma Gilmour and the Andretti car of Catie Munnings.

The JBXE car of Heikki Kovalainen and Hedda Hosas was classified fifth after rolling out on the final lap.

Desert X Prix II redemption race

1. X44 X44 Vida Carbon Racing 11m 10.132s
2. McLaren + 10.150
3. Andretti Altawkilat +33.296
4. Carl Cox Motorsport +2:27.834
5. JBXE DNF