An all-action Extreme E race weekend in Scotland concluded with Veloce Racing winning the second Grand Final and cementing its place at the top of the Championship. The team had not fared so well the previous day, after a promising practice session on Friday.
Race Day 3 on Saturday got off to an abortive start as fog prevented the first round of qualifying, meaning there was only one session. Defending champions X44 Vida Carbon Racing finished first in Heat 1, with Season 1 champions Rosberg X Racing (RXR) winning Heat 2, but with a slower time through the Continental Traction Challenge.
However, a crash for ABT CUPRA XE’s Klara Andersson in the opening stages of Heat 2 resulted in a red flag, and Veloce Racing failed to finish due to mechanical issues. This placed both teams in the Redemption Race.
The X44 Vida Carbon Racing team made good on its impressive qualifying during the Grand Final. After hanging back at the start, X44’s Fraser McConnell deployed his ENOWA Hyperdrive later than other teams to storm into the lead with an impressive undercut. However, his speed at the next turn pushed him wide, enabling Andretti Altawkilat’s Timmy Hansen to pull the lead back.
However, although his teammate Catie Munnings was able to maintain first position across the line, a 0.3-second early release in the Switch Zone resulted in a 15.03-second penalty, gifting the win to X44. A puncture had befallen No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing, robbing them of a solid third place finish and handing the final podium to Carl Cox Motorsport.
Fraser McConnell, X44 Vida Carbon Racing, said: “It's amazing to get my first win for X44. It’s been something that I’ve been working towards not just for me but for the whole team.” Catie Munnings, Andretti ALTAWKILAT Extreme E, said: “We crossed the line in first, and I think we had a good few seconds to spare, but unfortunately we got a pretty hefty penalty in the Switch Zone for leaving a bit too early. The top step wasn’t ours unfortunately, but it feels like a win for us and it’s been a little while since we’ve been on the podium.”
The Redemption Race was won by ACCIONA | SAINZ XE, with Veloce Racing acquiring some valuable points in second and NEOM McLaren Extreme E placing third.
Qualifying for Race 4 did manage to deliver both rounds, but it was a “game of two halves”. The first round was action-packed, but most teams avoided incident. That could not be said for the second round, with both sub-sessions red-flagged.
In a dismal weekend for ABT CUPRA XE, Klara Andersson swerved to avoid a stationary Timo Scheider Carl Cox Motorsport car and ended up in almost the same ditch location as she had on the previous day. After the re-start, NEOM McLaren received a 30-second penalty for speeding in the Switch Zone.
The second session experienced a red flag as well, as the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE car clipped the RXR one, sending it flying over a bank. The front two cars just avoided contact, but the X44 car took a big hit to the front right wing.
After gaining the first podium for Carl Cox Motorsport, during the post-race press conference driver Christine GZ promised that, if they made the podium again, she would celebrate by tattooing teammate Timo Scheider’s bottom with a “Schlümpfe” (German for Smurf). The stress of this could explain why Scheider had an accident during qualifying.
The Grand Final on Sunday reasserted Veloce’s dominance this season, with the team leading the race from start to finish, despite pressure from NEOM McLaren. Rain after qualifying had added complexity to the race, throwing up mud onto all cars except the leader that was hard to dislodge. But Tanner Foust of NEOM McLaren still managed to pull off one of the passes of the weekend, with a miraculous overtake of the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE car on the outside of a corner.
Because Veloce had grabbed the top spot from the first corner, the team could enjoy good visibility throughout the race. The same was not true for RXR, whose car also lost its windscreen wipers. With almost zero visibility, the RXR car clashed with ACCIONA | SAINZ XE, taking both vehicles out of the race.
This left the track clear for No.99 GMC HUMMER EV Chip Ganassi Racing to take third, with NEOM McLaren second and Veloce topping the podium. Kevin Hansen, Veloce Racing, said: “We had a tough weekend, much tougher than Saudi Arabia. It was nice after Friday, with our double P1s in Free Practice, to come back and actually get on top! It was a huge effort from the team to pull through in such difficult conditions.”
Earlier in the day, the Redemption Race also lost two of its competitors, with Carl Cox Motorsport not even able to start after the qualifying mishaps. Fraser McConnell could not repeat his success of the previous day, either. His X44 car struggled in the wet, first hitting the ABT CUPRA XE vehicle, then haybales and subsequently failing to finish. ABT CUPRA XE did manage to continue and grab third, with Andretti Altawkilat taking second and JBXE first.
Alongside the racing, the Extreme E drivers also got involved with the traditional Legacy Programme attached to the race. In Scotland, this consisted of tree planting, fence building, and “electro fishing”, all focused on protecting the spawning grounds of Atlantic salmon from the ravages of climate change. The Extreme E site itself is also symbolic. A disused open plan coal mine, this will be converted into a reservoir for hydroelectric power storage in a few years. It will be used to smooth out intermittent power from Scotland’s burgeoning fleet of wind turbines, collecting surplus electricity when available, and distributing it again when the wind isn’t blowing.
The Sunday win has kept Veloce atop the Extreme E championship standings, with 80 points. ACCIONA | SAINZ XE maintains second with 69 points, and RXR now sits in third with 52 points. But there are six races to go, and if the frantic action in Scotland is anything to go by, there will be plenty of surprises in store.