- The Spanish team will make it to the two final rounds of the calendar as the leader of the Championship, although today its Sunday was plagued with technical issues.
ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team leads the Extreme E Championship by three points after the second race of the Island X Prix II in Sardinia, where a technical issue compromised the chances of the Spanish team. The title will be decided on the 2nd and the 3rd of December in Chile, home to the two final rounds of the calendar.
Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekström started the day with an 18-point gap over their rivals after clinching two victories in yesterday’s Qualifying heats and also another triumph in the Grand Final. This morning, they extended their winning streak to four by finishing first in the first Qualifying heat, but from that point onwards everything changed.
In the second Qualifying heat, where the team was fighting for a spot in the Final, there was an insulation issue when some water found its way to one of the connectors around the battery. This led to the car stopping suddenly on track when in normal conditions it was a contender for another win.
This issue sent Laia and Mattias to the Redemption Race, instead of the Final. Their luck didn’t change, as one wiper broke due to the weight of the mud, which was coming from another car. Without any visibility at all, the car of the Spanish team crossed the finish line in fourth place.
Thanks to their spectacular performance on Saturday, Sunday’s bad luck doesn’t prevent ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team from staying in the lead of the Extreme E Championship, although now its gap to Rosberg X Racing has been trimmed from 18 to 3 points. The title will be decided in the next round of the calendar, Chile, which will host the last X Prix of the season on the 2nd and the 3rd of December.
Quotes:
Laia Sanz, driver:
"What happened today was just a shame. Yesterday was such a perfect day and today was also looking good, but then everything went backwards. We won Qualifying 1 despite starting from a bad grid position, but the things that happened later were just beyond our control. The positive takeaway from this is that we did really well in everything that was within our reach and we must be proud as a team. This must give us more motivation for Chile. It must serve as a reminder that we can actually win the Championship."
Mattias Ekström, driver:
"In today’s X Prix, we went from being the stars to the ‘losers’ of the day. We had started the day really well with a victory in Qualifying 1 thanks to Laia’s good driving, but then we suffered a technical failure in the second session when some water entered one cable. Then, in the Redemption Race, one wiper broke down. Going from first to last is quite an experience, but we are still leading the Championship by three points and everything is up for grabs in Chile."
Carlos Sainz:
"Yesterday nothing could have been any better, but today everything that could go wrong… went wrong. It was neither the team’s nor the drivers’ fault because in Qualifying a cable from the battery got filled with water and in the Redemption Race a wiper broke due to the water and the mud. These are two unlucky issues that are beyond our control. This has compromised the fantastic weekend that Laia and Mattias were doing, but we won’t give up. There is still the final double-header to go and we will go for it."
Joan Orús, Team Principal:
"The wheel of fortune keeps on turning. One day it gives you everything, like yesterday. It was such a perfect day and the team was at the level to win. Nevertheless, after four consecutive victories if you count yesterday’s Qualifying heats, the Grand Final and this morning’s Qualifying 1, the car stopped on track due to an insulation issue as some water filtered through an electrical connector. Today was a bad day because of this and we lost the advantage that we had yesterday. We are still on top of the Championship, though, and we will give our best in Chile to win the title."
