Tag: Island X Prix

X44 Vida Carbon takes second Extreme E Island X Prix win

X44 Vida Carbon Racing claimed its second win of the Extreme E season in the second half of the Island X Prix II, dominating a final which came after all of the main championship protagonists hit some sort of trouble. Starting for the Lewis …

X44 Vida Carbon Racing claimed its second win of the Extreme E season in the second half of the Island X Prix II, dominating a final which came after all of the main championship protagonists hit some sort of trouble.

Starting for the Lewis Hamilton-backed team, Fraser McConnell took a wide line into the first turn to sweep past Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson and Sebastien Loeb of Abt Cupra as that pair squabbled for real estate in the center of the track.

The battle with Loeb dropped Kristoffersson back, but he carved his way through the field to rescue a second-place finish. First up he took on GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing’s RJ Anderson, setting up a move through the first Waypoint of the second lap by taking a wide approach — so wide he took out a sponsor sign — before swooping up the inside on the corner apex.

Next he hunted down Loeb, who was struggling with visibility issues with broken windshield wipers. A moment for Loeb at Waypoint 7 on the second lap allowed Kristoffersson to close right up, and he made the move four gates later with another high-speed charge up the inside.

X44’s clean start proved to be decisive though as they remained unchallenged throughout, with Cristina Gutierrez bringing the car home 5.813s clear of RXR’s Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky after taking the wheel at the mid-race driver change.

Klara Andersson persevered through the same visibility issues that cost Loeb a shot at the lead early on to bring the Abt Cupra entry home third, while Amanda Sorensen finished fourth for Ganassi.

JBXE took fifth after retiring from the final, Andreas Bakkerud pulling off the course with suspension damage moments after taking over from Hedda Hosas.

Island X Prix II (Round 8) Final

  1. X44 Vida Carbon Racing 10m 08.030s
  2. Rosberg X Racing +5.813
  3. Abt Cupra +8.621
  4. GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing +13.856
  5. JBXE DNF

Notably absent from the final was Acciona Sainz and Veloce Racing, the two main championship contenders this season.

Acciona Sainz, whose drivers Mattias Ekstrom and Lia Sanz won on Saturday, started Sunday strongly with a qualifying heat win, but water damage to a battery connector in their second heat left them retired and contesting the consolation Redemption Race instead.

Veloce’s day was even more disappointing, with power steering gremlins causing trouble at every stage of the competition. A retirement in the first qualifying heat was followed by a third-place finishes in their Q2 heat, albeit almost five minutes adrift of race winner Ganassi after going off course early on after contact with Acciona Sainz, before the power steering problems reoccurred, severely hampering Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen’s fightback.

Nevertheless, they were able to reclaim some points with a win in the Redemption Race, dominating in similar fashion to X44 in the main, grabbing the lead off the start then pulling away from the rest of the pack.

Andretti Altawkilat took second in the Redemption Race, with Carl Cox third and Acciona Sainz fourth, their pace slowed by windshield wiper damage that hindered visibility.

McLaren was absent throughout the day after withdrawing due to damage sustained in crashes on Friday and Saturday. The team was on site on Sunday, however, using the time to build an entirely new car ahead of the season finale in Chile in December.

Island X Prix II (Round 8) Redemption Race

  1. Veloce Racing 9m 39.903
  2. Andretti Altawkilat +6.099
  3. Carl Cox Motorsport +10.469
  4. Acciona Sainz +56.474
  5. NEOM McLaren DNS

Despite missing the main on Sunday, Acciona Sainz leaves Sardinia with the points lead with one event, two rounds to go. RXR sits in second, a mere three points behind, with Veloce still in the hunt in third, 21 points back.

Extreme E championship standings after Round 8

  1. Acciona Sainz 139 pts
  2. Rosberg X Racing 136 pts
  3. Veloce Racing 118 pts
  4. GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing 99 pts
  5. X44 Vida Carbon Racing 87 pts
  6. Abt Cupra XE 75 pts
  7. Andretti Altawkilat 71 pts
  8. NEOM McLaren 45 pts
  9. JBXE 42 pts
  10. Carl Cox Motorsport 40 pts

McLaren withdraws from Island X Prix II after second roll

NEOM McLaren has confirmed that it is withdrawing from the remainder of the Island X Prix II weekend in Sardinia after a second major incident in as many days. On Friday, Emma Gilmour rolled out of the first free practice session, an incident that …

NEOM McLaren has confirmed that it is withdrawing from the remainder of the Island X Prix II weekend in Sardinia after a second major incident in as many days.

On Friday, Emma Gilmour rolled out of the first free practice session, an incident that destroyed the team’s car and necessitated an overnight stay in hospital for the New Zealander.

On Saturday the team utilized the championship’s spare car, with championship reserve driver Tamara Molinaro stepping in to Gilmour’s spot alongside Tanner Foust – a move that made her the second-ever female to race for McLaren, and the first Italian to do so since Andrea de Cesaris at the 1981 Caesars Palace Grand Prix.

However, during the Redemption Race on Saturday afternoon, Molinaro flipped after contact with JBXE’s Hedda Hosas at the start of the race.

Molinaro emerged from the incident without any significant injury, but the car was heavily damaged. Just before 9 p.m. local time, the team issued a statement confirming their immediate withdrawal from the weekend.

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“The NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team regrets to confirm that we will not be competing in round eight of the 2023 Extreme E season,” it said.

“Due to damage sustained to the chassis during the Redemption Race earlier [Saturday], it will not be possible to repair the car in time for [Sunday’s] running and we have therefore taken the difficult decision to not participate in round eight.

“As racers, this is not a call we take lightly, especially given the efforts of the team to prepare for and during the event. However, the number one priority is that both Emma and Tamara are alright and in good spirits following their incidents.

“Our full focus will now be on the final two rounds in Chile and ending the season on a high.”

With McLaren sidelined, just nine teams will take part in the second half of the Island X Prix II, round eight of the 10-round season. It will be the first time since the championship’s inaugural campaign in 2021 that fewer than 10 teams have contested a championship round.

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

  1. Acciona Sainz 9m 47.173
  2. Abt Cupra +42.766
  3. Veloce Racing +1m 05.976
  4. RXR +1 Lap
  5. 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

  1. Andretti Altawkilat 10m 35.722
  2. JBXE +7.492
  3. GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing +11.998
  4. X44 DNF
  5. NEOM McLaren DNF