Extreme E LIVE: Results and reaction from Desert X Prix final
Follow all the reaction from the Desert X Prix final after Rosberg XR beat Hamilton’s X44 and Andretti United
Rosberg Extreme are the very first Desert X-Prix winners! Extreme E’s first finals day promised plenty after two enthralling qualifying sessions yesterday suggested there will be entertainment when the cars finally go wheel-to-wheel, and the final day was absorbing.
The brand new motorsport series is making its debut in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, one of five extreme environments over the year chosen not only for the remarkable landscape – think the Amazon rainforest and the Arctic ice – but also for their susceptibility to the climate crisis as the series aims to raise awareness as it goes. The fully electric SUVs went head to head here in a semi-final between the top three from qualifying (two final spots up for grabs), a second semi-final called the ‘crazy race’ between the next three from qualifying (one final spot), before a shoot out between the bottom three simply to decide their points ranking.
And it was Nico Rosberg’s XR team who won the inaugural Extreme E race in the Saudi Arabia desert, beating Lewis Hamilton’s X44 and Andretti United. Follow all the reaction below.
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Championship standings after Desert X Prix
- Taylor/Kristoffersson (Rosberg XR) 35 points
- Loeb/Gutierrez (X44) 30
- Munnings/Hansen (Andretti) 28
- Sainz/Sanz (Sainz) 26
- Giampaoli Zonca/Bennett ( Hispano Suiza) 20
- Ahlin-Kottulinsky/Button (JBXE) 17
- Hurtgen/Ekstrom (ABT Cupra) 13
- Leduc/Price (Ganassi) 12
- Chadwick/Sarrazin (Veloce) 8
It’s been a long, difficult night for ABT Cupra to make the shootout later
Catie Munnings brought the Andretti United car home to the final today - here’s why she’s racing in XE
Catie Munnings: ‘Motorsport has been selfish in the past. Extreme E is about something bigger’
The 23-year-old British rally driver will take on icons of motorsport in a revolutionary new series for gender equality and environmental awareness which starts in AlUla, Saudi Arabia this weekend
We got a bit ahead of ourselves there: the shootout will be alongside the final race, going out on Sky Sports Action, BBC, ITV and BT Sports from midday UK time.
I wasn’t really celebrating, I was like ‘dammit!” The team is all happy but I really wanted to make the final.
If you’re wondering how electric cars are being charged in the middle of nowhere, Extreme E use solar power to make hydrogen out of water (a process called electrolysis) and then use that hydrogen to power fuel cell generators, which can charge the cars wherever they need to be. Although hydrogen isn’t massively efficient as a direct fuel for cars, compared to using the electricity that would be used to make it, it’s a brilliant solution to needing to charge cleanly in remote locations. The only byproducts from a hydrogen fuel cell are clean water, which can be put back into local ecosystems.
Credit to Timmy, that was an amazing start - so fast, straight off the line. We started with a puncture in qualifying one and we thought that might be it for the weekend - so to make the final that’s like: go team!
And finally: the shootout
There should be three cars in the shootout: the final three qualifiers. No one from this session progresses to the final but all nine teams can score points in an X-Prix, so they’re fighting to pick up the most they can. Unfortunately, Veloce’s car suffered damage to the roll cage yesterday in Stephane Sarrazin’s crash, so they’re unable to compete but ABT Cupra have managed to repair their vehicle and will go head-to-head with Chip Ganassi.
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