Extreme E News

Extreme E: Veloce Racing wins Hydro X Prix in Scotland on Sunday, again many accidents

Tobias Wirtz

Tobias Wirtz

Colin McMaster / Extreme E

Veloce Racing won Sunday's race at the Hydro X Prix. Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor took a clear victory in the finale, relegating McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing to second place. However, persistent rain made for difficult track conditions and swirling mud caused severe visibility obstructions, which led to various collisions in the field. As on the previous day, the successes for the two German teams ABT Cupra and Rosberg X Racing were limited. Timo Scheider, the only German driver in the field, remained without points after the podium on Saturday.

Qualifying 1

Heat 1

After the fog of the previous day that led to a cancellation of Q1, the first race on Sunday morning started as planned. The following teams competed in the first heat: Rosberg, ABT Cupra, X44, Chip Ganassi and Carl Cox. RJ Anderson (CGR) had the best start. He drove through turn 1 just ahead of Fraser McConnell (X44), followed by Johan Kristoffersson (RXR) and Nasser Al-Attiyah (ABT). Christine GZ (Carl Cox) - the only female driver at the start of the heat - was several seconds behind 4th place early on.

Without any overtakes, the drivers went into the switch zone after two laps. X44 lost two positions in the cockpit swap. Amanda Sorensen (CGR) thus went back on track ahead of Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky (RXR) and Klara Andersson (ABT). Cristina Gutierrez (X44) was only fourth.

On the last lap, the Spaniard attacked her rival Andersson but caused a puncture on the right rear of the ABT car. Gutierrez went past and finished third, but later received a penalty for the action, which dropped her back to fourth behind Andersson. Nothing else happened: Chip Ganassi won ahead of RXR. Carl Cox finished last - Timo Scheider had not been able to catch up with his teammate.

Heat 2

Mattias Ekström for Acciona Sainz had the best launch into heat 2. Behind him followed the two Hansen brothers Kevin (Veloce) and Timmy (Andretti) as well as Tanner Foust in the McLaren. Andreas Bakkerud (JBXE) dropped back early on. Then Timmy Hansen spun and stopped on track. After some time, he was eventually able to continue. Foust overtook Kevin Hansen for second place, then they went into the switch zone.

The women returned to the track in unchanged order. Veloce received a 10-second time penalty for hitting a flag. However, this was not to change the result. On the last lap, Catie Munnings (Andretti) was lapped by the leader, Laia Sanz - a first in Extreme E. The final order of heat 2: Sainz won ahead of McLaren, Veloce, JBXE and Andretti.

Qualifying 2

Heat 1

The 1st heat of Qualifying 2 featured the teams of ABT Cupra, Carl Cox Motorsport, Chip Ganassi, JBXE and McLaren. Shortly after the start it became apparent that the conditions were anything but harmless: On the downhill section in the first sector, Emma Gilmour (McLaren) spun while leading, Timo Scheider (Carl Cox) and Klara Andersson (ABT Cupra) hit the straw bales securing the edge of the track at the same spot a few seconds later. In the process, the ABT Cupra driver smashed through the straw bales and fell into the abyss, which was a few meters deep. The heat was subsequently interrupted for around 45 minutes.

Little happened after the restart. Race control declared the downhill section of the first sector a slow zone, with a speed limit of 30 km/h in effect here. McLaren drove a clean race and Tanner Foust crossed the finish line first, but received a 30 second time penalty for speeding in the switch zone. JBXE also received a 10 second time penalty for driving around a flag. Chip Ganassi Racing thus won the heat narrowly ahead of McLaren and JBXE.

Heat 2

In Heat 2, Laia Sanz and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky collided a few meters after the start. The RXR car was levered out on a wall that was the track boundary and hit X44 driver Cristina Gutierrez. Race control again showed the red flag. Rosberg X Racing retired with a broken suspension. Laia Sanz wanted to bring her car back to the start after the race interruption, but was initially denied entry to the starting area. She nevertheless went to the start, but parked the vehicle after a few meters with a broken suspension.

During the driver change there was a problem with the safety net at the Andretti car, Timmy Hansen thus lost a lot of time and even fell behind Fraser McConnell. However, McConnell had very big problems with his heavily damaged car and only rear-wheel drive available, so he had to let Hansen pass again shortly afterwards.

Veloce Racing won the heat by 46 seconds from Andretti and X44 The race stewards investigated the collision at the start and decided that Laia Sanz was to blame for the accident. Therefore, Acciona Sainz was classified fifth. Rosberg X Racing moved up to fourth place. However, a review of the accident damage at X44 revealed that the team had to change the damaged chassis.

Qualifying results at Hydro X Prix II

Place Team Points Q1 Points Q2 Total points
1 Chip Ganassi 10 10 20
2 Veloce 6 10 16
3 McLaren 8 8 16
4 RXR 8 4 12
5 Sainz 10 2 12
6 Andretti 2 8 10
7 X44 4 6 10
8 JBXE 4 6 10
9 ABT 6 2 8
10 Carl Cox 2 4 6

 

Redemption Race

Only four cars were on the grid in the Redemption Race. The Carl Cox Racing car was absent after the accident in qualifying.

Andreas Bakkerud took the lead for JBXE at the start ahead of Timmy Hansen. X44 driver Fraser McConnell drove into the rear of Nasser Al-Attiya after a few hundred meters of the first lap and parked the badly damaged car on the side of the track. Race officials, meanwhile, were investigating all four cars for slow zone violations.

Bakkerud drove into the switch zone 14 seconds ahead of Hansen, with Al-Attiyah another ten seconds back. Hedda Hosas took over the JBXE car in the lead, but Catie Munnings caught up. However, the slow zone in the first sector left too little time to catch up with Hosas. The Norwegian crossed the finish line with a lead of around five seconds, while Klara Andersson was third, 30 seconds behind.

As all three teams received a time penalty of 30 seconds each for going too fast in the slow zone, the result remained unchanged.

Final

The final featured the Acciona Sainz, Chip Ganassi, McLaren, Rosberg and Veloce cars. Kevin Hansen (Veloce) took the lead at the start ahead of Mattias Ekström (Acciona Sainz). Tanner Foust (McLaren) was third, with Kristoffersson (RXR) driving behind. RJ Anderson (CGR) was at the back of the field. All drivers had massive problems with mud on the windshield. Kristoffersson, whose windshield wipers did not work, was particularly affected.

Foust pushed past Ekström with a daring maneuver on the outside of the corner and was now second. He closed on Hansen, but then had to let go as he had large amounts of mud on his windshield, which massively obstructed his vision. The cars entered the switch zone in this order. Race control announced it would also investigate slow zone violations of the Acciona Sainz, McLaren and Rosberg cars.

After the drivers change, Molly Taylor led from Emma Gilmour, with Laia Sanz and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky immediately behind. Sanz also now had large amounts of mud on her windshield and had to slow down. Shortly afterwards, Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Sanz collided, with the Spaniard spinning. The cars collided again during Sanz's turning maneuver, breaking the suspension on the RXR car. Ahlin-Kottulinksy had to retire from the race.

At the front, Molly Taylor cruised to victory with a six-second lead, unchallenged, ahead of Emma Gilmour and Amanda Sorenson. On the final lap, Laia Sanz slid off the track in the slow zone, meaning the race was over for her as well. Since the race stewards decided not to issue any penalties for the slow zone violations, the result remained unchanged.

In the overall standings, Veloce Racing retook the lead ahead of Acciona Sainz, with Rosberg X Racing now third. The next race weekend of the 2023 Extreme E season will take place on July 8 and 9. Then the electric championship makes another guest appearance in Sardinia - as always this year with another double header.

Results

overall standings

additional reporting by Timo Pape

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