ACCIONA | Sainz XE lead the way in Free Practice

The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team drivers completed the three-lap run of the mud-covered course with a time of 10m10.00s, including a driver change in the Switch Zone, the Spanish pair setting a time some 19 seconds better than the next best runners, the ABT CUPRA XE team, with drivers Mattias Ekstrom and Jutta Kleinschmidt at the wheel of the squad’s ODYSSEY 21 E-SUV. 

Third in the session, just one second behind the ABT CUPRA car was X44, with drivers Sebastien Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez at the controls. During the run, Frenchman Loeb topped two of the four sectors for overall best times, and also set the fastest lap of the day with a 2m37.849s. On lap times alone, there was little to choose between the leading contenders, X44’s Loeb beating Rosberg X Racing’s Johan Kristoffersson by just two seconds, with Ekstrom just 0.6 further back and Sainz just another half a second adrift.

But with traction at a premium in the challenging slippery conditions of the 3.8km lap, in the overall times Kristoffersson and team mate Molly Taylor – the Extreme E championship leaders – could only manage fourth best time, one place ahead of the Xite Energy Racing pairing of Christine CZ and Oliver Bennett, the duo having a strong first timed run of the week.

Making his Extreme E debut, South African Lance Woolridge joined Jamie Chadwick in Veloce Racing’s ODYSSEY 21 and the pair were sixth fastest overall, ahead of JBXE pairing of Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Kevin Hansen.

It wasn’t a good session for the Andretti United Extreme E team or the SEGI TV Chip Ganassi Racing squad, as both teams retired during the run following heavy landings from the ‘Knife Edge’ jump. However, as the Ganassi team looks to put a season on frustration behind it, the outfit can take confidence from Sara Price setting the fastest first sector time of the entire session.