championship decider

29th November 2023

Extreme E: Championship Fight Comes to a Head in Chile Finale

The third season of Extreme E will reach its conclusion in Antofagasta, Chile this weekend (2nd-3rd December) with five teams still in title contention.

Current championship leaders, Acciona Sainz, hold a narrow three point gap over Season 1 winners, Rosberg X Racing (RXR). The two teams have been the most consistent on the grid, scoring an impressive five podiums (two wins) each.

Also still in the championship battle are Veloce, Chip Ganassi, and X44, who currently lie 21, 40, and 52 points off the top respectively. It would take a bizarre set of circumstances for X44 to retain their crown come the end of the season, but anything can (and usually does) happen in Extreme E.

Driver Changes

Aside from the championship battle, we also have some new (and old) faces returning to the Extreme E grid.

McLaren driver Emma Gilmour is still recovering from her injury from last time out in Sardinia and is replaced by JBXE’s Hedda Hosas. Hosas and JBXE have struggled to find form so far this year, making the Grand Final just twice in eight races.

Tamara Molinaro, who had previously stood in for Gilmour as the championship driver, will fill Hosas’ seat at JBXE.

Image courtesy of Extreme E

Over at ABT Cupra, Adrien Tambay will make his Extreme E debut, taking over from fellow Frenchman Sebastian Loeb. Tambay has little to no off-road racing experience, but he did win the eTouring Car World Cup in 2022 with the Cupra team.

Standing in as reserves for this weekend are Patrick O’Donovan, and the loveable Christine GZ.

Format

The format for the weekend remains unchanged from the rest of the season.

Teams will take part in two qualifying races, earning classification points depending on their finishing positions. The points will be added up, and the five teams with the most points will progress to the final. The remaining five teams will compete in the redemption race.

Bonus championship points will be awarded for the fastest Continental Traction Challenge time for each round of the double-header.

Championship Standings:

Acciona Sainz – 139 Points
Rosberg X Racing – 136 Points
Veloce Racing – 118 Points
Chip Ganassi – 99 Points
X44 – 87 Points
ABT Cupra – 75 Points
Andretti – 71 Points
McLaren – 45 Points
JBXE – 42 Points
Carl Cox Motorsport – 40 Points

19th December 2021

RXR Seal Maiden Extreme E Title on Countback | Extreme E: Race Report

RXR have won the teams championship in Extreme E’s inaugural season, despite X44 winning the final race on a thrilling last day.

Crazy Race:

The first race of the weekend was the Crazy Race, where the bottom three qualifiers all competed for a place in the final. Andretti United, Chip Ganassi, and Xite Energy all hoped to improve on a poor Saturday qualifying result.

As the lights went out it was Andretti United’s Timmy Hansen who got the best getaway, leading out Xite Energy’s Oliver Bennett, and Chip Ganassi’s Kyle Leduc going into the first turn.

Whilst Hansen looked to extend his lead, Bennett and Leduc were embroiled in a close wheel to wheel battle, which ended when the latter overtook Bennett around the outside.

After the switch, Sara Price for Chip Ganassi closed up to Katie Munnings’ Andretti car and they were nose to tail for much of the lap. Ultimately, though, it wouldn’t be enough, as Andretti United booked their place in the final.

Crazy Race Classification:

Andretti United
Chip Ganassi
Xite Energy

Semi-Final 1:

Championship protagonists X44 hoped to extend their so-far perfect weekend in the first semi-final as they faced off against JBXE and Veloce.

JBXE’s Kevin Hansen had a great start and entered the first turn in first place, just ahead of X44’s Loeb. Behind, Veloce’s debutant Lance Woolridge made a mistake and lost some ground to the two leaders.

In order to claim the title, X44 needed the five extra points for setting the fastest time in the Continental Traction Challenge. Loeb managed to do just that, putting in a blistering sector to catch up to JBXE.

By the time the cars entered the switch zone, you could have put a blanket over JBXE and X44. The latter made better use of the switch, though, and narrowly came out in the lead.

From there, Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky for JBXE pushed Christina Gutierrez for X44 right to the end. It wasn’t enough to take the victory but both teams progressed to the final.

Semi-Final 1 Classification:

X44
JBXE
Veloce

Semi-Final 2:

Championship leaders RXR looked to reach the final for the fifth race in a row, where they would be able to place one hand on the trophy. First, though, they had to race against Acciona Sainz and ABT Cupra in the second semi-final.

Johan Kristofferson in the RXR machine got off to the perfect start, putting it into first place; whilst Carlos Sainz put his Acciona Sainz car into second with the help of hyperdrive.

Unfortunately for the German team, ABT Cupra sustained damage early on and they dropped off the back of the other two cars.

With ABT Cupra a long way off, all RXR and Acciona Sainz had to do was bring the car home. Molly Taylor and Laia Sanz did just that, securing the final two spots in the final.

Semi-Final 2 Classification:

RXR
Acciona Sainz
ABT Cupra

Final:

This was it then, the championship had come down to this race. RXR just needed to finish fourth or above to claim the very first Extreme E title.

X44 got off to a brilliant start, with Gutierrez using her hyperdrive to great effect to take the lead. RXR were a close second, with JBXE, Andretti United, and Acciona Sainz just behind.

However, after a good start, RXR’s Molly Taylor began to drop to the back of the field, being overtaken by both JBXE and Andretti United. With X44 in the lead, losing fourth place to Acciona Sainz would mean they lost the championship.

Taylor stood strong, however, and she handed over to Johan Kristofferson just ahead of the Acciona Sainz team.

Meanwhile, Katie Munnings for Andretti United attempted an overtake on JBXE’s Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky but spun and lost some ground. Crucially, she kept ahead of Taylor.

The final lap of the season was an uncharacteristically quiet one which saw X44 win their first race of the season, having done everything possible to claim the title. But, with RXR finishing in fourth, the two teams ended level on points, with RXR winning on countback.

Final Classification:

X44
JBXE
Andretti United
RXR
Acciona Sainz

X44 completed a perfect weekend, having been fastest in both qualifying sessions and both races. In the end it would not be enough but Lewis Hamilton’s team will take a lot of positives into the new season.

Overall Weekend Classification:

X44 25 Points (+5 for Continental Traction Challenge)
JBXE 19 Points
Andretti United 18 Points
RXR 15 Points
Acciona Sainz 12 Points
Veloce 10 Points
ABT Cupra 8 Points
Chip Ganassi 6 Points
Xite Energy 4 Points

In the championship, RXR topped the table, ahead of X44 by virtue of having won more races. Elsewhere, JBXE beat out Andretti United to third place and Acciona Sainz drew level on points with ABT Cupra. ABT Cupra remained ahead on countback.

Championship Standings:

RXR 155 Points
X44 155 Points
JBXE 119 Points
Andretti United 117 Points
ABT Cupra 100 Points
Acciona Sainz 100 Points
Veloce 77 Points
Chip Ganassi 73 Points
Xite Energy 64 Points

It’s been an incredible first season of Extreme E, with some enthralling racing in the most remote locations, all in the name of raising awareness of Climate issues. With McLaren joining the grid next year, season two is going to be unmissable.

Featured Image courtesy of ExtremeE

18th December 2021

X44 Complete Qualifying Cleansweep | Extreme E: Jurassic X Prix Qualifying Report

X44 topped qualifying for the fifth race weekend in a row. Lewis Hamilton’s team have completed a cleansweep of qualifying in Extreme E’s inaugural season.

Q1:

Qualifying this weekend would look a little different to previous rounds as the short circuit saw the first drivers in the cars complete two laps, rather than just the one. Race Control also ruled that every team had to field their male driver first in this session. This of course meant all of the female drivers went out first in Q2.

ABT Cupra’s Matthias Ekstrom got qualifying underway as he put in two quick laps to set the early pace. After teammate Jutta Kleinschmidt finished off the run, the ABT Cupra had set an early benchmark time of 9:24.113.

Debutant Lance Woolridge was next to take to the track, with the South African hoping to make a good impression on his Veloce team. They set a good time, just 6 seconds off ABT Cupra.

Oliver Bennett for Xite Energy followed. After a steady first lap, he knocked over a waypoint marker on his second lap and the team subsequently received a 10 second time penalty.

The Hansen brothers, Kevin with JBXE and Timmy for Andretti United, were next, where they and their respective teammates (Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Katie Munnings) set decent laps to put their teams in the mix.

Championship leaders RXR looked to strengthen their claim on the title as they took to the track. Johan Kristofferson set a solid base for teammate Molly Taylor, who flew round the track to put the team provisionally quickest.

The challengers, X44, were supposed to follow, however repairs to their car meant Acciona Sainz were next to take to the track. Both drivers pushed very hard and the Acciona Sainz team were less than a second slower than RXR.

After fixing their car, and once Chip Ganassi had had their run, X44 finally went out to complete their laps. Sebastian Loeb got the protagonists off to a flying start and as teammate Christina Gutierrez ended the run they went quickest in the session, taking maximum classification points ahead of Q2.

Qualifying 1 Classification:

X44 9:19.985 9 Points
RXR +1.901 8 Points
Acciona Sainz +2.757 7 Points
ABT Cupra +4.128 6 Points
Veloce +10.395 5 Points
Andretti United +12.118 4 Points
Chip Ganassi +15.181 3 Points
JBXE +20.682 2 Points
Xite Energy +43.015 1 Point

Q2:

As with Qualifying 1, ABT Cupra got the final qualifying session of the season under way as Jutta Kleinschmidt took the wheel. After getting off to a good start, she took a wrong turn and the German team subsequently received a time penalty for missing a waypoint. Despite this, the team were able to set a relatively competitive benchmark time of 9:29.366.

Veloce and Xite Energy followed as they both looked to improve on their Q1 result. Veloce seemed to manage just that, going provisionally fastest, whereas Xite Energy were only able to slip into 3rd.

Next was the turn of JBXE’s Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky, who put in two strong laps which saw her and teammate Kevin Hansen replace Veloce at the top the times.

Katie Munnings for Andretti United followed JBXE. The Brit put in two strong laps and handed over to Timmy Hansen with the team still in the mix. However, disaster struck as Hansen crashed the car into a tree. Both car and driver were okay to continue as Andretti United completed their run 19 seconds behind JBXE’s benchmark time.

The two teams left in the championship battle went next as both tried to get the edge over the other. Molly Taylor had a steady run for RXR before Johan Kristofferson put his foot to the floor to take the fastest time in the Continental Traction Challenge. Gutierrez and Loeb for X44 were quicker over the course of the run, however, and they went provisionally fastest.

Acciona Sainz and Chip Ganassi rounded out the final qualifying session of the season. Acciona Sainz had a good run, which saw them finish third in Q2. More bad luck came Chip Ganassi’s way as there was an issue with the steering during Leduc’s lap. They propped up the Q2 classification.

Qualifying 2 Classification:

X44 9:14.793 9 Points
JBXE +4.112 8 Points
Acciona Sainz +7.828 7 Points
RXR +8.545 6 Points
Veloce +11.951 5 Points
ABT Cupra +19.573 4 Points
Xite Energy +21.464 3 Points
Andretti United +23.163 2 Points
Chip Ganassi +36.638 1 Point

As all the classification points were added up, X44 came out on top, comfortably ahead of RXR in second. A number of teams had the same number of classification points and they were separated based on their fastest Continental Traction Challenge time.

Overall Qualifying Classification:

X44 18 Points
RXR 14 Points
Acciona Sainz 14 Points
ABT Cupra 10 Points
JBXE 10 Points
Veloce 10 Points
Andretti United 6 Points
Xite Energy 4 Points
Chip Ganassi 4 Points

With the teams receiving championship points based on their overall qualifying classification, X44 closed the gap to RXR by a point. JBXE also leap-frogged Andretti United into 3rd place.

Championship Standings:

RXR 140 Points
X44 125 Points
JBXE 100 Points
Andretti United 99 Points
ABT Cupra 92 Points
Acciona Sainz 88 Points
Veloce 67 Points
Chip Ganassi 67 Points
Xite Energy 60 Points

Going into the semi finals tomorrow, X44 will face off against JBXE and Veloce, whilst RXR will race Acciona Sainz and ABT Cupra for a place in the final. Andretti United, Xite Energy, and Chip Ganassi will compete for the last spot in the final in the crazy race. Tomorrow is very finely poised.

Image courtesy of ExtremeE

14th December 2021

Rosberg vs Hamilton Championship Decider: Jurassic X Prix Preview

RXR lead the Extreme E championship by just thirteen points over X44 as the all-electric off road series heads to Dorset for the Jurassic X Prix.

Extreme E goes to Dorset this weekend for the final round of the season. With the championship finely balanced, who will come out on top?

Taking place at the Ministry of Defence Base at Bovington in Dorset, U.K., the course is expected to be one of the most challenging for the drivers to date. A surface combination of clay, sand, gravel, and mud, with a high probability of rain, means grip will be in short supply this weekend.

Starting off with a wide and fast downhill section, multiple teams will be going side by side as they head towards the tricky, technical sections amongst the trees. All this leads up to the highlight of the course: the “Knife Edge” slope. At 5.4 meters high and sloped at 23 degrees, the “Knife Edge” slope is not to be messed with.

Following the Island X Prix in Sardinia, RXR extended their lead in the championship to thirteen points over their nearest rivals, X44. Not for the first time, Hamilton and Rosberg are embroiled in a championship decider. Here’s how the standings look ahead of the Jurassic X Prix:

RXR: 129 points
X44: 113 points
Andretti United: 93 points
JBXE: 92 points
ABT Cupra: 83 points
Acciona Sainz: 78 points
Chip Ganassi: 63 points
Veloce: 60 points
Xite Energy: 55 points

The sporting format remains unchanged from the two previous rounds. Each team has two qualifying runs, receiving qualifying points nine to one in each session depending on their times. The team with the most qualifying points after two qualifying sessions receives twelve points in the championship. Championship points are distributed evenly down to four points for qualifying in ninth.

Qualifiers one, five, and six then race in Semi-Final One, with qualifiers two, three, and four facing off in Semi-Final Two. The fastest two teams in each semi-final will progress to the final.

The bottom three qualifiers will race against each other in the Crazy Race, where only the fastest finisher will progress.

Points are awarded twenty five to four after the final depending on the overall finishing positions of the teams. Five points are also awarded to the team with the fastest time in the “Continental Traction Challenge” over the weekend.

Jamie Chadwick returns to Veloce this weekend following her absence from the last two rounds due to her W Series commitments. She will be joined by Lance Woolridge, a new face for Extreme E.

One of the main aims of Extreme E is to leave a positive impact on the communities they visit. This weekend that means they are partnering up with the National Trust to support their campaign to reintroduce beavers to Dorset. Next year, the National Trust will reintroduce beavers to a county that hasn’t seen them for four hundred years.

With the reintroduction of beavers to Dorset, the National Trust hopes that they will restore peat, and pool habitats for the local wildlife. It is also hoped that they will improve water quality, carbon storage, and reduce the risk of floods.

With all of this, Extreme E hopes to highlight the issue of biodiversity loss. The CEO and Founder of Extreme E, Alejandro Agag said: “Our presence in Dorset demonstrates that environmental issues are close to home.”