Hydro X Prix 2024: E.On Veloce Racing wins Saturday's race in Scotland

With a victory for E.On Veloce Racing, the latest Extreme E has resumed its season after a break of almost five months. Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen won the Hydro X-Prix on Saturday and jumped to the top of the overall standings with their third podium in the third race. McLaren, on the other hand, experienced a very black Saturday.

Saturday: Veloce dominates, Rosberg unlucky

On Saturday, the first qualifying heat ended with a bang: Klara Andersson was the first to cross the finish line, but at the same time rolled over several times and destroyed the SUN Minimeal car, which could only be made roadworthy again in time thanks to the help of mechanics from other teams. There had already been several collisions and two punctures for Legacy Motor Club and JBXE beforehand.

 

 

 

 

 

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The winners of the first qualifying heats were E.On Veloce Racing and Andretti Altawkilat, while the second heats were again won by E.On Veloce Racing and the two-time champion team Rosberg X Racing. With this victory, Johan Kristoffersson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky just about secured their place in the final thanks to their faster time in the Continental Traction Challenge, after only finishing fourth in the first qualifying heat following a driving error by Ahlin-Kottulinsky. In addition to these three teams, Acciona Sainz also made it to the final after securing two second places in the qualifying heats.

In the final, E.On Veloce Racing once again came out on top, scoring their first win of the season after two third places at the Desert X-Prix, ahead of Acciona Sainz and Andretti Altawkilat. Rosberg X Racing did not reach the finish line and was therefore classified in fourth place.

Molly Taylor took the lead at the start. Behind her, Laia Sanz and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky battled it out with a negative outcome for the reigning champions: the rear right suspension broke, meaning that Rosberg X Racing was out of the fight for victory after just a few corners. Timmy Hansen, the only male driver at the start, fought a tough duel with Sanz and collided twice with the Acciona Sainz car. After the second collision, Sanz knocked over a waypoint flag, so race control investigated the incident.

After the driver changeover, the three leading teams were still right behind each other. However, Kevin Hansen and Fraser McConnell quickly pulled away from Munnings, who had little to counter the pace of the male drivers. However, there were no more position changes, Hansen crossed the finish line 1.4 seconds ahead, Munnings followed more than ten seconds behind and also received a 10-second penalty for the collision with Acciona Sainz, which, however, had no effect on the result.

Your R.03 WINNERS! ?

Back-to-back wins in Scotland for @veloce_racing as @kevinhansen71 and @molly_rally take the R.03 win ?

?@veloce_racing

?@accionasainz

?@AndrettiXE pic.twitter.com/hprZlY3I7W

- Extreme E (@ExtremeELive) July 13, 2024

The Redemption Race went to Legacy Motor Club ahead of SUN Minimeal, who had to drive with the door open for long stretches of the race. JBXE was classified in third place after the team lost a lot of time following contact with SUN Minimeal and made it to the finish around 1:30 minutes behind. Neom McLaren rolled out after the first corner with a technical problem. As the team announced in a statement after the race, a piece of debris hit one of the car's external kill switches, causing it to switch off.

But disaster loomed: Legacy Motor Club and JBXE were under investigation for allegedly violating the slow zone that had been declared due to the stranded McLaren. However, the all-clear was given shortly afterwards: "No further action", decided the race stewards.

Rosberg X Racing lost the lead in the overall standings to E.On Veloce Racing, with Acciona Sainz taking second place.