Acciona Sainz sought revenge for its mishap in the Desert X Prix final on Saturday by emerging victorious in the second part of the Extreme E season opener in Saudi Arabia.
In Sunday’s main event, Fraser McConnell took the lead right from the start, using the Hyperdrive power boost along with two other drivers as soon as the race began. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky from Rosberg X Racing strategically saved her power boost for the second waypoint, allowing her to sneak past Molly Taylor from E.ON Veloce Racing. Timmy Hansen from Andretti Altawkilat took advantage of the situation and slipped past both of them to secure second place. McConnell, unaffected by the scuffle behind him, managed to build a 1.264-second lead by the time he handed over the car to Laia Sanz during the mid-race driver change. Catie Munnings took over the Andretti entry.
Meanwhile, Kevin Hansen, now driving for Veloce, used his boost early in the lap to close the gap between him and his brother’s teammate, who was more than six seconds ahead. Munnings, however, was more focused on catching up to Sanz in the lead and began her stint less than a second behind.
On the final lap, Munnings gained a tenth of a second in the first sector but lost two seconds in the next. The gap continued to widen throughout the lap, despite Munnings using her Hyperdrive in the final stretch of the race.
In the end, Sanz brought the Acciona Sainz car home with a 1.372-second advantage, followed by Veloce, who finished 3.256 seconds behind. RXR secured the fourth spot after slowing down early on due to a rough landing from Ahlin-Kottulinsky.
In the Redemption Race, Travis Pastrana’s goal to beat Mattias Ekstrom fell just short.
Pastrana, driving for Legacy Motor Club, made a strong start to the race, which had to be restarted after an initial roll by JBXE’s Dania Akeel following contact with NEOM McLaren’s Cristina Gutierrez. By the time the mid-race driver change came around, Pastrana handed over the Legacy M.C. car to Gray Leadbetter with a 4.018-second lead over Timo Scheider from SUN Minimeal, who was replaced by Klara Andersson.
However, Ekstrom, now behind the wheel of the McLaren, was determined to fight back. He managed to pass Andersson at Waypoint 5, but she quickly regained her position and it wasn’t until Waypoint 10 that Ekstrom finally made a successful move.
From there, Ekstrom focused on chasing down Leadbetter. The 19-year-old put up an impressive defense against the seasoned DTM and World Rallycross champion, but in the end, experience prevailed as Ekstrom overtook him near the end of the final lap.
In the 2024 Extreme E season, a redemption race victory now awards more points than finishing last in the final, which helps soften the blow for McLaren, who missed the final after appearing in it on Saturday.
McLaren’s day didn’t start off well, with a third-place finish behind RXR and Veloce in the opening Q1 race. They then finished second to Andretti after losing a comfortable lead during the driver switch zone. Acciona Sainz also emerged victorious in the first round of qualifying, while RXR completed a clean sweep with another victory in Q2.
After two rounds of the 2024 Extreme E season, RXR currently sits at the top of the points table, closely followed by Acciona Sainz, who is just two points behind, and Veloce, who is six points behind.
The fourth season of Extreme E will resume in Europe on July 13-14.
According to the Source racer.com