No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing top Qualifying in Round 4

RJ Anderson and Amanda Sorensen came out on top with a perfect score, after a stop-start Qualifying 2 in which both Heats were red flagged due to incidents in the first sector of the course.

Making it to the Grand Final for the first time this season, the NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team recovered well to take second place in Qualifying 2 Heat 1, after driver Emma Gilmour, along with Carl Cox Motorsport’s Timo Scheider and ABT CUPRA XE’s Klara Andersson, all crashed into the hay bales below the cliff face on the opening lap. 

Winners of Qualifying 2 Heat 2, Veloce Racing, will also feature in the Round 4 Grand Final. A collision between ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team’s Laia Sanz and Rosberg X Racing’s (RXR) Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky at the first corner of the Heat saw DNFs for both teams, along with damage to the X44 Vida Carbon Racing car. 

The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team were classified as fifth for causing the incident, but qualified fourth in overall Qualifying. Meanwhile RXR’s fourth place in Qualifying 2 Heat 2 was enough to secure the last spot in the Grand Final alongside the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team. 

The remaining five teams will battle it out in the Redemption Race for crucial championship points as the second double-header of Extreme E Season 3 comes to an end. 

Qualifying 1 Heat 1 

Using the same line that served them well in yesterday’s Qualifying 2, No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing swung around the outside of the pack as RJ Anderson took the lead out of Waypoint 1. 

Shutting the door on Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson, Fraser McConnell slotted into second for X44 Vida Carbon Racing, with ABT CUPRA XE’s Nasser Al-Attiyah in hot pursuit from fourth. Round 3 podium finishers Carl Cox Motorsport ran in fifth with Christine GZ as the teams approached the driver change. 

An issue for X44 Vida Carbon Racing saw Cristina Gutiérrez exit the Switch Zone in fourth, behind RXR’s Åhlin-Kottulinsky and ABT CUPRA XE’s Andersson. The Spaniard fought hard to regain third place, and soon succeeded with a bold overtake up the inside of the ABT CUPRA XE car as they launched over a jump. 

A smooth drive from Sorensen up front secured the win for No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing, while Åhlin-Kottulinsky brought the RXR ODYSSEY 21 home in second. 

Post-race the stewards identified that contact from Gutiérrez as she looked to overtake Andersson caused a puncture for the Swede, and X44 Vida Carbon Racing were demoted to fourth place behind ABT CUPRA XE. 

Qualifying 1 Heat 2 

A strong start for the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team saw Mattias Ekström dominate the inside line to take the lead out of the opening corner. Behind, Veloce Racing’s Kevin Hansen held his ground to keep second place. 

Both Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E’s Timmy Hansen and NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team’s Tanner Foust stormed ahead of JBXE to take third and fourth, respectively, as the teams entered the steep climb out of the quarry.

Soon after Hansen entered a spin, re-joining the race nearly a minute off the front and with only rear wheel drive engaged. Up ahead, Foust was closing the gap on Veloce Racing’s Hansen, and soon stole second as the Veloce Racing car struggled with a bent drive shaft. 

Following the driver switch, ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team’s Sanz crossed the line comfortably first, lapping Catie Munnings as the Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E car fought to keep going. 

Gilmour retained second place for the NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team. Veloce Racing’s Molly Taylor kept third, despite a 10-second penalty for Hansen hitting a Waypoint flag, as he pushed to stay ahead of NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team's Foust.

Technical issues saw JBXE crawl home in fourth with Hedda Hosås behind the wheel, while Munnings nearly caught up with the crippled JBXE ODYSSEY 21 but, ultimately, ended the Heat in fifth. 

Qualifying 2 Heat 1

A quick launch off the line gave NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team’s Gilmour the pace she needed to shut out Carl Cox Motorsport’s Scheider. However, this pace also saw the New Zealander slide into the hay bales, promptly followed by Scheider. ABT CUPRA XE’s Andersson then veered off-course to avoid contact with the stationary Carl Cox Motorsport car. 

With both Carl Cox Motorsport and ABT CUPRA XE out of contention, the race restarted with one lap to go until the Switch Zone. Gilmour took the lead as the teams entered a slow zone through Waypoints 3 and 4 where the incidents had occurred. 

JBXE’s Hosås was slow off the line as the ODYSSEY 21 failed to respond, but the Norwegian was soon on her way, albeit a long way back from No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing’s Sorensen in second. 

With JBXE far behind, the front two delivered safe runs knowing that, combined with their Qualifying 1 result, first or second place in the Heat would see them through to the Grand Final. 

NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team’s Foust maintained the lead on his two-lap stint after the driver change, but a 30-second penalty for speeding in the slow zone on Gilmour’s lap put the team down to second. 

Qualifying 2 Heat 2

As the five female drivers set off from the start line, RXR’s Åhlin-Kottulinsky and ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team’s Sanz moved closer and closer together as the pair tussled to secure the inside line in the opening corner. 

With neither driver giving up the fight, Sanz clipped the back of Åhlin-Kottulinsky, sending the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team car into a spin and the RXR ODYSSEY 21 over the banking and across the racing line. 

While Veloce Racing’s Taylor and Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E’s Munnings avoided contact with the out-of-control RXR car, Gutiérrez took a big hit to the front right of her X44 Vida Carbon Racing machine. 

The Heat resumed after the red flag with only three teams on-course. The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team classified fifth, behind RXR, for causing the incident. Despite the DNFs, both teams make it through to the Grand Final after strong performances in Qualifying 1. 

Off the start line a second time around, Taylor secured the lead once again for Veloce Racing, with Munnings in second for Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E ahead of X44 Vida Carbon Racing’s Gutiérrez. 

Taylor played it safe heading into the slow zone, and throughout her remaining lap, setting the stage for a dramatic battle between the Hansen brothers. However, difficulties getting Timmy Hansen secured in the Andretti Altawkilat car put the team too far behind to compete with Veloce Racing. 

The Switch Zone incident dropped the team into third behind X44 Vida Carbon Racing, but McConnell struggled with his damaged car, losing control in a spin with only rear wheel drive at his dispense. 

Hansen soon took second place away from McConnell, but second for Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E and third for X44 Vida Carbon Racing were not enough to put either team through to the Grand Final. 

The win in Heat 2 was just the comeback that Veloce Racing needed to make it through to the Grand Final, keeping their hopes of a third podium after just four rounds alive. 

RESULTS 

Q1 Heat 1: 
 
1. No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing 10:07.156 
2. Rosberg X Racing +9.968 
3. ABT CUPRA XE +21.564 
4. X44 Vida Carbon Racing +13.458 (change of track position) 
5. Carl Cox Motorsport +23.618 
 
Q1 Heat 2: 
 
1. ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team 10:13.931 
2. NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team +4.073 
3. Veloce Racing +35.251 (PENALISED) 
4. JBXE +2:45.950 
5. Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E +1 LAP 
 
Q2 Heat 1: 
 
1. No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing 55:32.396
2. NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team +27.017 (PENALISED)
3. JBXE +1:33.392 (PENALISED) 
4. Carl Cox Motorsport DNF 
5. ABT CUPRA XE DNF 
 
Q2 Heat 2: 
 
1. Veloce Racing 33:38.652
2. Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E +46.341
3. X44 Vida Carbon Racing +1:15.676
4. Rosberg X Racing DNF 
5. ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team DNF 
 
Qualifying Standings: 
 
1. No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing: 20 points 
2. Veloce Racing: 16 points 
3. NEOM McLaren Extreme E Team: 16 points 
4. Rosberg X Racing: 12 points 
5. ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team: 12 points 
6. Andretti Altawkilat Extreme E: 10 points 
7. X44 Vida Carbon Racing: 10 points 
8. JBXE: 10 points 
9. ABT CUPRA XE: 8 points 
10. Carl Cox Motorsport: 6 points 

Extreme E:

Simra Gulzar, Communications Supervisor
E: media@extreme-e.com / T:+44 7552 858229

Josh Bell, MPA Creative:     
E: jb@mpacreative.com  / T: +44 7557 102540

Diego Bustos, BE Mass Media (Latin America -including Brazil-, US Hispanics, Spain, Portugal)
E: diego.bustos@bemassmedia.com / +569-8829-9138 or +1-660-847-4645

NOTES TO EDITORS

About Extreme E:

Now heading into its third season, Extreme E is a radical off-road racing series, founded by the same team behind Formula E, which showcases electric SUVs and futuristic technologies in some of the world’s most remote and challenging environments.

This five-event global voyage utilises its sporting platform for the purpose of promoting electrification, environment and equality. The series’ goal is to highlight the impact of climate change in some of the world’s most endangered environments, promote the adoption of electric vehicles to pave the way for a lower carbon future, and provide a world-first gender-equal motorsport platform.

The first sport to ever be built out of a social purpose, Extreme E aims to minimise environmental impact while maximising awareness, racing in places that have already been damaged or affected by climate change or human interference and taking fans deep into the heart of the most pressing issues facing our planet’s future.

Not only that, but Extreme E is also helping the car industry to develop future-facing technology using racing as a platform for road innovation, which accelerates change ten-fold.

Season 3 Calendar: 

Saudi Arabia
11-12 March 2023
Scotland
13-14 May 2023
Sardinia, Italy
08-09 July 2023
Amazon/USA
16-17 September 2023
Chile
02-03 December 2023

About Continental Tires: Founding Partner and Official Tire Partner 
Continental develops pioneering technologies and services for sustainable and connected mobility of people and their goods. Founded in 1871, the technology company offers safe, efficient, intelligent, and affordable solutions for vehicles, machines, traffic and transportation. 
 
The tyres business area has 24 production and development locations worldwide. Continental is one of the leading tyre manufacturers with more than 56,000 employees and offers a broad product range for passenger cars, commercial and special-purpose vehicles as well as two-wheelers. Through continuous investment in research and development, Continental makes a major contribution to safe, cost effective and ecologically efficient mobility. The portfolio of the tyres business area includes services for the tyre trade and fleet applications, as well as digital management systems for tyres. 
 
Continental developed a new high-performance tyre for Extreme E Season 2, redesigned to include the use of more sustainable materials. Each of the 30 tyres that Continental has supplied to all ten Extreme E teams now contains recycled polyester made from approximately 60 PET bottles.  In total, around a third of each second-generation CrossContact Extreme E tyre consists of recycled and renewable raw materials. 
 
About LuisaViaRoma: Official Fashion Partner 
Defined by the Financial Times as “a haven for directional fashion,” LUISAVIAROMA.COM is the top online luxury fashion destination with 5,000,000 visitors per month and worldwide shipping. With each new season, the website presents the collections of more than 600 established designers and young emerging talents. 
 
About Enel X Way: Official Smart Charging Partner 
Enel X Way is the Enel Group's new global business line entirely dedicated to electric mobility. Currently, Enel X Way manages approximately 320,000 charging points, both directly and through interoperability agreements in place worldwide. As a global platform for e-mobility, the company is focused on developing flexible charging technologies and solutions to improve the customer experience by supporting the electrification of transport for consumers, businesses, cities and public administrations. 
 
Find out more on https://enelxway.it/en/home  and follow Enel X Way on its social media channels: 
 
LinkedIn: Enel X Way  
Twitter: @enelxway 
Instagram: @enelxway   
Facebook: @enelxway 
 
About Zenith: Official Timekeeper and Founding Partner 
Zenith exists to inspire individuals to pursue their dreams and make them come true – against all odds. Since its establishment in 1865, Zenith became the first watch manufacture in the modern sense of the term, and its watches have accompanied extraordinary figures that dreamt big and strived to achieve the impossible – from Louis Blériot’s history-making flight across the English Channel to Felix Baumgartner’s record-setting stratospheric free-fall jump. Zenith is also highlighting visionary and trailblazing women – past and present – by celebrating their accomplishments and creating in 2020 its first-ever collection dedicated entirely to them, Defy Midnight. 
 
With innovation as its guiding star, Zenith features exceptional in-house developed and manufactured movements in all its watches. Since the creation of the El Primero in 1969, the world’s first automatic chronograph calibre, Zenith has gone on to master fractions of the second with the Chronomaster Sport and its 1/10th of a second precision and the DEFY 21 with a precision of 1/100th of a second. 
 
About ENOWA: Official Green Hydrogen Partner 
ENOWA is a world-class energy, water and hydrogen company founded in NEOM, Saudi Arabia. ENOWA produces and delivers clean and sustainable resources for industrial and commercial applications using a customer-centric smart and connected system, designed to be circular and takes advantage of NEOM's optimal solar and wind energy profile. ENOWA benefits from NEOM's greenfield site, which has no legacy infrastructure, to advance Energy, Water, and Hydrogen innovation. 
 
ENOWA will act as a catalyst and incubator for developing new, sustainable energy and water businesses while creating a robust economic sector regionally. Through its commitment to renewable energy and efficient water management, ENOWA seeks to become a global reference for industry leaders and setting a benchmark for sustainable economic circular systems around the world. 
 
For more information, please visit: enowa.neom.com 
 
About Vodafone Business: Official Technology and Communication Partner 
With expertise in connectivity, global scale and the leading IoT platform, Vodafone Business is a leading technology communications company helping organisations succeed in a digital world and keeping society connected. Vodafone’s purpose is to connect for a better future, enabling an inclusive and sustainable digital society, and many of its solutions have sustainability and inclusivity embedded. 
 
Unique in its scale as the largest pan-European and African technology communications company, Vodafone transforms the way we live and work through its innovation, technology, connectivity, platforms, products and services. Vodafone operates mobile and fixed networks in 21 countries, and partners with mobile networks in 52 more.  As of 31 December 2021, they had over 300m mobile customers, more than 28m fixed broadband customers and over 22m TV customers. 
 
This collaboration will see Vodafone Business leading innovations and capabilities such as 5G, MPN, IOT and MEC, integrated into Extreme E’s global operations and will include full involvement in the purpose- driven elements of the series, with special prominence on Extreme E’s Legacy Programmes and the Science Laboratory on board the St Helena. Through its IOT solutions, Vodafone Business is helping sustainability efforts, including agriculture, forestation and decarbonisation of energy grids. 
 
Find out more on http://www.Vodafone.com/business  and follow Vodafone on its social media channels: 
 
Twitter: @VodafoneGroup  
LinkedIn:  www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone 
 
About EY: Official Sustainability Partner 
EY is a global leader in assurance, consulting, strategy, transactions and tax services, and already plays a significant role in working with Extreme E. Originally announcing its collaboration with the championship back in 2020, EY came on board to help Extreme E achieve its commitment to minimising its overall footprint whilst creating a positive legacy. 
 
Whilst Extreme E strives ‘to race without a trace’, the framework provided by EY has helped the series to minimize its environmental impact across each of its remote race locations. Both prior and post-racing impact assessments have supported Extreme E to strategically plan their actions within these areas. 
 
EY and Extreme E will work closely together to promote the five pillars of Extreme E (or “Five Es”) through the adoption of ‘XE Talks’. These informative presentations, facilitated by Extreme E’s Scientific Committee, will shed light on the Five Es, showcasing the joint commitment of EY and Extreme E. 
 
About Allianz: Founding Partner and Official Insurance Partner 
The Allianz Group is one of the world's leading insurers and asset managers with more than 100 million private and corporate customers in more than 70 countries. 
 
Allianz customers benefit from a broad range of personal and corporate insurance services, ranging from property, life and health insurance to assistance services to credit insurance and global business insurance. 
 
Allianz is one of the world’s largest investors, managing around 790 billion euros on behalf of its insurance customers. Furthermore, our asset managers PIMCO and Allianz Global Investors manage 1.7 trillion euros of third-party assets. 
 
About CBMM: Founding Supplier  
CBMM | Niobium is a founding supplier of Extreme E and the Championship’s official Niobium Technology Supplier and Chassis Technology Supplier. 
 
Critical to the automotive sector, niobium produces stronger, lighter and more sustainable cars with better energy efficiency. Its technologies are already widely applied in different areas, including light-weighting, safety, emissions reduction and electronics that will help lead to a sustainable sector transformation. Key applications of niobium in the Mobility sector include chassis, brakes and exhaust systems, drivetrains, batteries and EV charging stations and any number of ancillary components. Its qualities mean materials can be made lighter, stronger, more robust and more reliable – all while being more sustainable than other materials.  
 
CBMM offers technical innovation to customers around the globe through a team of over 2,000 highly trained, dedicated professionals providing cutting-edge niobium products and technology to over 400 clients in around 40 countries. 
 
About Kaizen Clean Energy: Official Clean Energy Technology Provider 
Kaizen Clean Energy (KCE), a manufacturer of hydrogen generators, is developing integrated solutions for electric vehicle (EV) charging, hydrogen fuelling, and distributed power for the grid and critical assets. 
 
KCE offers its mobile microgrid to customers through an Energy as a Service contract, which eliminates large capital expenses and provides customers with the flexibility to scale with energy needs over time.  
 
Kaizen Clean Energy will support ENOWA - NEOM’s energy, water, and hydrogen subsidiary and Green Hydrogen Power Partner to Extreme E - in delivering a pioneering hydrogen microgrid solution to the championship. 
 
Find out more on: www.kaizencleanenergy.com.