- Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekström made it to the podium in the race that marked the halfway point of the calendar.
- The Spanish team reclaims the lead of the Extreme E Championship, now with a 2-point edge over its nearest competitor.
The ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team is back at the lead of the Extreme E Championship after finishing second in the first round of Sardinia’s Island X Prix, just as the calendar reaches its halfway point.
Laia Sanz and Mattias Ekström scored 21 points: 18 for coming second in the Grand Final, 2 for setting the fastest time in the Continental Traction Challenge and 1 for winning one of the Qualifying heats. With 90 points in total, now they have a 2-point lead over Veloce Racing.
From the very beginning, the Spanish team showcased its speed. Qualifying was already a good testament to that. In Qualifying 1, Laia and Mattias crossed the finish line in second place. In Qualifying 2, they took a win that guaranteed them a spot in the Grand Final, with 18 Qualifying points out of 20 available.
In the Grand Final, the starting position was everything. After the voting of the Gridplay, the Spanish team was set to take the start from the left-hand side of the track. This complicated things, as its Odyssey 21 was on the worst line possible when the circuit got narrower just before the first corner.
Mattias Ekström prioritized the integrity of the car, and thus he lifted off the throttle just before reaching that narrow point. This put him back in fourth place, where he struggled with the mud that the cars in front threw at his windscreen. Therefore, despite moving up to third overtaking Sébastien Loeb, he was back to fourth for the driver change.
Laia Sanz took the wheel on the second lap, in which she skilfully managed the lack of visibility to cross the finish line in second place following a penalty to the leading team and an accident of the car that was running in second.
With these results, ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team has now 90 Championship points. It has 2 points over Veloce Racing and 12 over Rosberg X Racing as the season reaches its halfway point.
Sardinia will host tomorrow the second round of the Island X Prix, which will follow the same time schedule.
Quotes:
Laia Sanz, driver:
"We have started the weekend really well. On pure pace, today we would have even deserved a race victory, although it’s true that, given the grip that we had in the Grand Final, I think we would have settled for second. It seemed like the final was lost, but we knew how to fight and we are happy because we got something out of that situation. We are happy to retake the lead in the Championship."
Mattias Ekström, driver:
"We had a really exciting day. I was very happy with the pace from Laia and myself, and we managed to get the bonus points from the Continental Traction Challenge, which feels really nice. We drove two very solid races in Qualifying 1 and Qualifying 2, with no big issues, just enjoying, and then for the Grand Final we had a difficult starting position. I immediately felt it was better to back off because we would have been five cars into one lane. I took a conservative line and I was P4 after the first corner. Then Loeb had a puncture, so I passed him for P3 and I just tried to follow the train in front. I had too much mud on the windscreen, though, and Johan passed me just before the pit stop. All in all, with the penalty from the moral winners, we finished P2. This means very good points for the Championship. We are leading now with 2 points, but the Championship is only halfway, so it’s barely halftime. We need to continue pushing if we want to stay on the lead this time."
Carlos Sainz:
"Congratulations to Laia and Mattias, and to the entire ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team. Today everyone did a great job. The starting position compromised the Grand Final. Still, we clinched an excellent second place that puts us at the top of the Championship. Good job everybody. Tomorrow more!"
Joan Orús, Team Principal:
"Today was an incredible day. We proved once again that this team is ready to win, ready to win everything, including this championship. We were super quick throughout the weekend, both in Friday’s practice and today in Qualifying, where we won one heat and the Continental Traction Challenge. This translates into three points for the Championship. We finished second in the race. The Gridplay is a pity because it didn’t help us at all. We started from a very tricky position, but we knew how to hold on, how to wait and recover, how to fight, and this gave us the second-place finish as we become the Championship leaders. We hope we don’t lose this lead. Tomorrow we have to win and we will go for it."
