X44 top timesheets in challenging Free Practice
French driver Loeb used several different lines to those of the other drivers to stop the clocks first, with Gutierrez also on a push in the same ODYSSEY 21 E-SUV machine in her lap of the course.
Second fastest was the SEGI TV Chip Ganassi Racing squad of Kyle LeDuc and Sara Price, LeDuc sending the team’s E-SUV around the course in wild style, and was clearly delighted with his lap on the team radio after the finish, the team’s time 19.834 seconds slower than X44’s in the end. LeDuc also took the fastest final sector time of the session.
It was a mixed run for the Veloce Racing team, with Emma Gilmour experiencing a couple of moments, but team mate Stephane Sarrazin stopped the clocks first at that point in the run, Veloce’s run ultimately 41.299s seconds behind that of X44, the Veloce team slotting into third overall.
Xite Energy Racing enjoyed a clean run and was fourth, while points leaders Rosberg X Racing were fifth after experiencing issues on both laps for Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor, the RXR machine the first car on track for an official session in the Enel X Island X Prix.
The ABT CUPRA XE squad ran into technical difficulties and was sixth, while Carlos Sainz pushed hard from the outset with the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team car, sending the outfit’s ODYSSEY 21 sideways to the fastest first sector time of the session. However, Sainz hit a bush at around waypoint 10 and the team lost significant time.
Neither the Andretti United Extreme E or JBXE completed their runs. Andretti United’s Catie Munnings had a spin on the team’s opening lap, but Timmy Hansen then lost a right rear wheel while on a charge on lap two. His brother Kevin Hansen meanwhile suffered broken suspension in the opening stages of JBXE’s first lap of the course.
