- Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekström took part in two days of private testing with the team before heading for the racetrack in Teulada.
ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team is second in the Extreme E Championship as the series reaches Sardinia for the Island X Prix, which marks the halfway point of the series as the sport prepares for the fifth and sixth rounds of the calendar.
The Spanish team approaches the weekend with the maximum ambition, given that it is only 11 points behind the current Championship leader after winning the second race of Saudi Arabia’s Desert X Prix and triumphing in the Redemption Race of the first Hydro X Prix, held in Scotland.
In order to prepare for this new event, the team organized a private test on Monday and Tuesday in another part of the island with its two drivers, Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekström, who got to be behind the wheel of the Odyssey 21 and work together with their engineers.
As if this was not enough motivation, there is the desire to make amends for what happened last year, when a rival car hit Carlos Sainz when the Spanish driver was fighting for a race victory that would have strengthened the team's options to the title.
The great singularity of the Island X Prix is the heat. The weather forecast says it will be a sunny weekend, with temperatures of almost 40 degrees Celsius. This will not only pose a challenge to the drivers, but also to the mechanics and engineers working in the team’s garage, and to the mechanical systems of the electric cars.
The racetrack is built within the perimeter of a military base. It promises a harsh surface with stones and dirt, which will surely put stress on the parts of the car. The drivers will get to discover it on Thursday during the track walk and on Friday during Free Practice.
THE STORY OF CHERIF, NEW TEAM MEMBER IN SARDINIA
As part of Extreme E’s Racing For All program, which aims to bring diversity into motorsport and to give professional opportunities to everyone, ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team will have a new member this weekend: Cherif.
Cherif is a young man, aged 20, who came to Spain from Senegal to reunite with his father, who had moved there before in pursuit of a better life.
He joined QEV Technologies in 2020, where he learned how to work with carbon fiber, which is a crucial material in the development of prototypes and vehicles intended for competition.
At the Island X Prix, Cherif will have his first on-site interaction with motorsports. He will move from the garage bay to the Extreme E paddock, where he will join efforts with the mechanics of the team as they all work towards another win in the fight for the Championship.
LEGACY PROGRAMME
The Island X Prix will focus on the damage caused by wildfires, which sadly are becoming more widespread through Southern Europe in the summer months due to the combination of extreme temperatures and very dry landscapes due to the lack of rain.
The Extreme E drivers will once again join efforts with the MEDSEA Foundations, which runs several projects that aim to protect the environment, from planting trees to preserving seagrass meadows. This time, they will plant trees for a new forest intended for bees, which play a crucial role in our ecosystems. The forest will have multiple plants and nectar-rich flowers that will give them the perfect ecosystem to reproduce.
Quotes:
Laia Sanz, driver:
"I am really looking forward to this race. We left Scotland with a bitter feeling because we had the pace but we didn’t have good luck, because many things can happen in an Extreme E race. We know we are competitive and I am expecting a great weekend in Sardinia where we can be again among the strongest teams. It is an important moment for the Championship because Sardinia marks its halfway point. It is important that we do a really good job. We are focused to give the best of ourselves and we will work to try and achieve a much better result than the one we had in Scotland."
Mattias Ekström, driver:
"Coming back to Sardinia is always special for me. It is a beautiful place and the weather is always nice, and I must admit that spending one week here with the Extreme E Championship feels like combining summer holidays with the adrenaline of competition. I will do my best. These past few days we have been testing with the car to adjust the set-up and both myself and Laia have worked on our driving. I feel like we have done some improvements and I am really eager to give it all. We want to have a good weekend and secure many points for the Championship battle."
Carlos Sainz:
"I am really eager to get the Island X Prix started just so we can continue confirming our competitiveness and the evolution that the team has gone through. I feel like we will be fighting for the win in these two races. As we all know, the Championship is really tight as of today, so there is no doubt that it will be a tough battle to get to the podium, but I fully trust in Laia and Mattias and I am convinced they will be fighting to be up there."
Joan Orús, Team Principal:
"The island of Sardinia brings back some good and bad memories. It brings back good memories because we have always been really competitive on this island, we have always done great starts and solid races, but it always brings back the memory from the accident of last year, where we were hit by another car and that destroyed a weekend where we could have won the event. We come back now really eager to prove that we as a team want to fight for the Championship and the best way to do it is to clinch a great result this weekend."
