ABT CUPRA XE signs Dakar champion Nasser Al-Attiyah, retains Kleinschmidt

For the 2022 Extreme E Championship, ABT CUPRA XE is bringing together a duo of Dakar Rally greats. In addition to retaining 2001 champion Jutta Kleinschmidt, the team added four-time winner Nasser Al-Attiyah who will make his series début.

Al-Attiyah is less than a month removed from winning his fourth Dakar, which put him in a tie with Ari Vatanen for the second most Car wins. Alongside his previous victories in 2001, 2015, and 2019, the Qatari is the only Middle Eastern driver with more than one win in the legendary rally raid. Beyond Dakar, he is a sixteen-time Middle East Rally Champion, four-time FIA Cross Country Rally World Champion, and has also won titles in WRC-2 and the Production World Rally Championships.

He replaces Mattias Ekström, who ran the full inaugural Extreme E season as ABT CUPRA’s male driver. Ekström competed against Al-Attiyah in the Cars category at Dakar, finishing ninth overall.

“I’m already a bit excited and believe that this will be a great experience for me,” said Al-Attiyah. “Extreme E is an exciting series with the ambition to contribute to a better future.

“I am proud to be a part of the team now. Expectations are high. With the experience of ABT CUPRA XE and Jutta by my side, we are determined to race for victories. I can’t wait to sit in the car and have fun.”

Kleinschmidt began 2021 as an advisor and reserve driver for Extreme E, and the latter role kicked in ahead of the Ocean X-Prix after fellow German Claudia Hürtgen fell sick. Kleinschmidt remained in the car for the rest of the season. The entry finished fifth in the team championship and scored a runner-up finish at the Island X-Prix.

“Last year we created a solid basis and fought for front positions,” commented Kleinschmidt. “This year, the challenge is to be even more consistent in taking wins and trophies, and we are ready for that.

“Being able to share my passion for off-road racing with such a great team and now a Dakar star like Nasser is fantastic motivation. I just want to start the season.”

Kleinschmidt made Dakar starts between 1988 and 2007, initially starting on a bike before switching to cars. In 1997, she became the first female stage winner, which was followed by claiming the 2001 Rally, the last to use the famed Paris–Dakar route. She is the only woman to win the Rally, the only German driver to win in Cars, and the first German to win any category since 1985 (Truck won by Karl-Friedrich Capito and his son, Williams Racing CEO Jost Capito). She also has three more podium finishes (third in 1999 and 2005, second in 2002).

The Al-Attiyah/Kleinschmidt duo makes ABT CUPRA the only Extreme E team in which both drivers have won the Dakar Rally. Other teams with Dakar-savvy lineups include Team X44 and Acciona Sainz XE Team. The former’s Sébastien Loeb finished second behind Al-Attiyah in the 2022 race while Cristina Gutiérrez won a Bike stage in 2021 to join Kleinschmidt as female stage winners. Acciona Sainz owner Carlos Sainz is a three-time Rally winner and his team-mate Laia Sanz, who mainly competed in Bikes before switching to Cars for 2022, has finished every Dakar since her début in 2011.

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