Extreme E – the off-road electric racing series started by Formula E founder Alejandro Agag – kicked off its first racing weekend in Saudi Arabia, with nine teams of two male and female drivers competing in the Odyssey 21 electric SUVs His first qualifying session has just ended, with several exciting moments as the drivers struggled to stay on the 18 km course and set a time, making the session last over three and a half hours.
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As Motorsport.com note, Johan Kristoffersson and Molly Taylor managed to place P1, completing a clean lap in both stints for the vehicle backed by former F1 champion Nico Rosberg. The X44 team entered by current F1 champion Lewis Hamilton placed second, Cristine Gutierrez quickly finished the second half after world rally champion Sebastian Loeb left the course at the start of his stint. Abt Cupra and Veloce Racing both earned DNFs after crashing with frightening knockdowns, but the drivers were safe and both teams will continue.
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The Desert X Prix Finals Day consists of a series of three car races.
The teams will be ranked from 1st to 9th place based on the combined total time of the two qualifying rounds of each team.
The top three teams advance to the semi-final, where the top two earn places in the Desert X Prix final.
The three middle teams (4th, 5th, 6th) qualify for The Crazy Race – where only the best finisher advances to the Desert X Prix final.
The last three teams (7th, 8th and 9th) are heading for the Shoot Out.
Extreme E airs in the US on Fox Sports, as well as Sky Sports, BBC and BT Sport in the UK. It is also available for consultation on Youtube, Facebook, Twitter and Twitch as the series tries to support its stated goal of drawing attention to environmental challenges. The final race schedule will begin at 5 a.m. ET on Sunday morning.
