The Extreme E was inaugurated on April 3 in the unforgiving desert of AlUla, Saudi Arabia, and despite being a success according to the co-founder of the series, Alejandro Agag, the competition was not without accidents since in almost all phases there were broken SUVs.
1.- The first to give a scare was the driver of the Chip Ganassi Racing team, Kyle LeDuc. His Odyssey 21 tipped over after hitting a rock on the left side of the SUV, destroying part of the right side of the SUV.
“Guys, big crash, big crash. I broke the right side of the car”, said the American pilot seconds after what happened.
2.- For his part, during the first 70 minutes of the opening shakedown session, there was only one aborted race and that was Sara Price. According to the Autosport portal, the car was in the wrong configuration, absorbing heat and draining the battery which caused the SUV to stop.
Veloce Racing driver Stephane Sarrazin was one of the competitors who rolled in the Saudi Arabian desert when he passed a road crossing later and was destabilized by a desert bush.
3.- Claudia Hurtgen’s Cupra also suffered a tremendous accident in first qualifying, which luckily ended without consequences for the German driver.
Hurtgen was rolling through one of the fast zones and rolled over several turns before coming to a stop with the wrecked SUV.
4.- The most experienced of the female drivers also went through a Shoot Out crash to define seventh place between the Segi TV Chip Ganassi Racing and ABT CUPRA XE teams that ended with Kyle LeDuc ramming Hürtgen in full pursuit.
The champion
The competition was taken by Rosberg Xtreme Racing, created by the German Nico Rosberg, Formula 1 champion in 2016. The victory was part of the great work done by the duo made up of the Swedish Johan Kristoffersson and the Australian Molly Taylor.
Written by | Gabriel Sayago
