Tag: Timo Scheider

SUN Minimeal joins Extreme E with Scheider and Andersson

Timo Scheider will lead a new team in this year’s Extreme E championship, backed by Swiss food company SUN AG. The double DTM champion – who is also a two-time Extreme E podium finisher with XITE Energy Racing and Carl Cox Motorsport – will serve as …

Timo Scheider will lead a new team in this year’s Extreme E championship, backed by Swiss food company SUN AG.

The double DTM champion — who is also a two-time Extreme E podium finisher with XITE Energy Racing and Carl Cox Motorsport — will serve as team principal for the SUN Minimeal team, as well as driving for it alongside former Abt Cupra driver Klara Andersson.

“The long-term partnership with SUN Minimeal is extremely exciting and makes me very happy,” said Scheider. “The combination is a perfect fit, because I share common goals and philosophies with SUN Minimeal and Extreme E.

“I have been able to engage a number of highly competent team members, which will allow me to fully concentrate on my role as a driver.

“I am very proud that we have been able to recruit Klara as a driver. She is extremely fast and also fits perfectly well to the team. I am convinced that we have put together a strong package to play a significant role in the high-class competitive environment of Extreme E.”

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Andersson, Extreme E’s youngest-ever race winner and the first female to finish on the podium in the World Rallycross championship, joins the team after spending just over a year with Abt Cupra, which departed at the end of 2023 season in order to focus its resources on Formula E.

“I am delighted to be part of the SUN Minimeal team and would like to thank (SUN CEO) Wolfgang Grabher and Timo Scheider for their trust,” said Andersson. “I got to know Timo in the World Rallycross Championship as one of the fastest and hardest working racing drivers out there.

“To be able now to compete alongside him in Extreme E is simply cool. I can hardly wait for the season opener in Saudi Arabia!”

The SUN Minimeal team will promote SUN’s innovative food products, which promote healthy living and sustainability, matching Extreme E’s own ethos.

“Our involvement in Extreme E will help us to globally present our innovation for healthy nutrition and our mission to reduce nutritional resources by 90 percent and reach up to 2.1 billion households,” explains Grabher. “I am particularly pleased to have Timo Scheider, a champion and great team player, in the team and wish him and Klara Andersson all the best for the 2024 season.”

Extreme E founder and Alejandro Agag already has high hopes for the team despite its infancy.

“We are delighted to welcome the SUN Minimeal team into our series as our latest entrant,” he said. “Despite being a new team in the championship, SUN Minimeal Team arrives with plenty of experience and race-winning pedigree, so we hope they will be fighting up at the sharp end of the field when the new season begins next month in Saudi Arabia.

“Everyone pulling in the same direction is so important in Extreme E, and Sun Minimeal is undoubtedly an organisation which is environmentally conscious and focused on sustainability, sharing the core values of our championship.

“I look forward to seeing how Timo and Klara fare behind the wheel and SUN Minimeal Team battling for podiums and victories in 2024, as we count down to our fourth Extreme E season.”

The 2024 Extreme E season will get underway in Saudi Arabia on Feb. 17-18.

Scheider replaces Meeke for Nitro Rallycross finale

Two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider will race for XITE Energy Racing in the final three rounds of the Nitro Rallycross season after Kris Meeke was ruled out through injury. Meeke took to social media to confirm that he’d be out after fracturing his …

Two-time DTM champion Timo Scheider will race for XITE Energy Racing in the final three rounds of the Nitro Rallycross season after Kris Meeke was ruled out through injury.

Meeke took to social media to confirm that he’d be out after fracturing his back in a skiing accident.

Meeke was due to battle this weekend in the series finale of Nitro Rallycross However, we are saddened to report that Kris has been involved in a ski accident and unfortunately won’t be able to make the race in LA,” the  XITE team announced via Instagram. “Huge loss and we send our best wishes to Kris for a speedy recovery.”

Meeke was originally only set to contest rounds outside North America for XITE, but following Jenson Button’s departure from the team after a tough start to his rallycross career, the Northern Irishman took the seat on a full-time basis.

He rewarded the team with a third placed finish — the team’s first top-three result in the category — in the second half of the Phoenix doubleheader in November, but now his season has been brought to a premature end.

By replacing Meeke, Scheider will be making his debut in the U.S.-based series but he is no stranger to rallycross, having competed in the world championship regularly since 2015.

“I’ve been following Nitro since it started and I’ve been in the U.S. with my family for a long time now so I’m taking a closer look at this,” Scheider told RACER. “I’m feeling sorry for Kris, I hope he has a speedy recovery.

“But I will take the chance, of course! It’s the season finale, it’s a tripleheader, I’ve no clue about the car, no clue about Glen Helen, but of course I’m looking forward because most of the guys I know well and I still love rallycross and I still have to analyze the Nitro format a bit but as far as I understand, it will be super-fun.”

Scheider’s debut in Nitro RX marks a return to the XITE Energy fold for the Miami resident, too. Scheider replaced team founder Oliver Bennett in the team’s Extreme E driver lineup last year and immediately helped it to its first international podium across all categories in the first Island X Prix in Sardinia.

“It was a pretty cool call yesterday from Oli and getting XITE racing back into my mind,” Scheider said. “We know each other from World Rallycross and we know each other from Extreme E and when I got the message asking if I was free next week, I just double-checked my calendar — I was coming home for three days and then I will fly straight from Miami to LA.

“I will love to take the chance and it was pretty cool that Oli thought of me after Kris unfortunately can’t compete. I want to enjoy the experience, I want to be there and to show people that it could be fun to work with me,” he added, hinting at an interest in further Nitro RX outings in the future.

Nitro Rallycross’ Glen Helen finale will take the form of a tripleheader, with the series keen to retain a 10-round championship calendar following the cancellation of the Finland, Saudi Arabia, and Calgary rounds.

The visit to Finland was scrapped after the venue, the KymiRing, wasn’t ready in time, while the Middle East jaunt was initially postponed and then called off entirely due to logistical issues. The Calgary round did take place, but with unusually high temperatures necessitating a format change, its championship status was removed.