Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekstromthe new Acciona Sainz duo in the Extreme-E World Championship achieved their first victory in this competition in the second of the Desert XPrix races where the season opened in the futuristic region of Neom (Saudi Arabia). .
The Swede Ekström, who this season replaced Carlos Sainz as Laia Sanz’s teammate, set a very high pace and took advantage of the fight from behind Kevin Hansen (Veloce), the winner of Race 1 with Molly Taylor, and Johann Kristofferson (RXR) and that allowed him to pass the car to Laia Sanz with a six-second advantage over Molly Taylor (Veloce) and ‘Lady Dakar’ did not miss the opportunity to reach the first victory of the Spanish team .
Molly Taylor and Kevin Hansen, yesterday’s winners, started very strongly in the qualifying round, with a solid victory in the first round they will end up combining in the second, reaching the final with the favorite band to round double off in Saudi Arabia. The other two group wins went to Rosberg X Racing and ABT Cupra. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Johann Kristoffersson beat their rivals in the first race and in the second they finished second in Veloce Racing. Klara Andersson and Nasser Al-Attiyah got a crucial victory in the second round to enter the grand final and avoid ‘the redemption race’ thanks to the risky strategy of taking on the Qatari in the turn where their opponents took the pilot.
The Redemption Race had to be fought by Cristina Gutiérrez and Fraser McConnell after losing the last access spot in the final decider against Acciona-Sainz. Sanz and Ekström, with two third places in the same classification, entered the final stage after yesterday’s second place. And after the hair-raising came the explosive performance in the final for Sanz-Ekstrom.
Race Classification 2
1. Laia Sanz/Mattias Ekstrom (Acciona Sainz)
2. Molly Taylor/Kevin Hansen (Veloce)
3. Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinski/Johan Kristofferson (RXR)
4. Klara Andersson/Nasser Al-Attiyah (Cupra)
5. Amanda Sorensen/RJ Anderson (Ganassi)
6. Cristina Gutierrez/Fraser McConnell (X44)
7. Emma Gilmour/Tanner Foust (McLaren)
8. Catie Munnings/Timmy Hansen (Andretti)
9. Hedda Hosas/Heikki Kovalainen (JBXE)
10. Christine Giampaoli/Timo Scheider (Carl Cox Motorsport)
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
