Rosberg X Racing snaps X44 qualifying reign in Sardinia

For over a year, Extreme E had only known the feeling of X44 topping qualifying with Cristina Gutiérrez and Sébastien Loeb. That changed on Wednesday as for the first time ever after six races, the series had a different overall qualifying winner as Rosberg X Racing held the honour for the first Island X Prix.

RXR, the current championship leader, continued its momentum by topping the first round of qualifying with Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Johan Kristoffersson setting a time nearly twelve seconds quicker than runner-up ACCONA | Sainz XE, followed by winning the first heat race in Round #2. With a maximum Intermediate Classification points payout of twenty, RXR will be placed in the first Semi-Final on Thursday.

X44’s qualifying dominance saw its demise during Loeb’s qualifying run in Q1 as his left-rear tyre suffered a puncture and resulted in substantial body damage, placing the #44 seventh. The team rebounded in the first heat by finishing second, though not without some scrutiny regarding a potential yellow flag zone overtake by Loeb on XITE Energy Racing‘s Tamara Molinaro that ultimately ended without penalty.

The second heat saw the Sainz outfit lead both laps after avoiding an early pursuit by McLaren XE. During the halfway driver swap, Veloce seemingly beat McLaren back onto the course despite being behind by twelve seconds, a drastic and sudden margin reduction that unsurprisingly prompted question on whether the team sped on pit road. Veloce would physically finish second with Lance Woolridge while McLaren’s Emma Gilmour held off the charging JBXE of Kevin Hansen for third. The investigation is still ongoing as of this article’s publishing, and provisional results currently list Veloce in second.

Regardless of where Veloce is ultimately classified, it will still have to run the Crazy Race, being weighed down by a lack of qualifying time in Round #1 after the suspension failed during Woolridge’s lap. McLaren and Chip Ganassi Racing were also unable to set times as the former also suffered a suspension problem while the latter’s vehicle stalled. CGR also retired from Heat #1, capping off a difficult day after dominating Tuesday practice.

Qualifying results

Intermediate Classification

Rank	Team	Round #1 Points	Round #2 Points	Total Points	Placement
1	Rosberg X Racing	10	10	20	Semi-Final #1
2	ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team	9	10	19	Semi-Final #2
3	X44	4	8	12	Semi-Final #2
4	Andretti United XE	8	4	12	Semi-Final #1
5	XITE Energy Racing	6	6	12	Semi-Final #1
6	ABT CUPRA XE	7	2	9	Semi-Final #2
7	JBXE	5	4	9	Crazy Race
8	Veloce Racing	0	8	8	Crazy Race
9	McLaren XE	0	6	6	Crazy Race
10	Chip Ganassi Racing	0	0	0	Crazy Race

Round #2

Heat #1

Finish	Number	Team	Total Time	Driver #1	Lap Time	Driver #2	Lap Time
1	6	Rosberg X Racing	9:58.821	Johan Kristoffersson	3:50.513	Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky	4:29.088
2	44	X44	10:07.542	Cristina Gutiérrez	4:08.188	Sébastien Loeb	4:18.946
3	42	XITE Energy Racing	10:12.180	Timo Scheider	4:01.983	Tamara Molinaro	4:31.067
4	23	Andretti United XE	10:14.019	Catie Munnings	4:04.112	Timmy Hansen	4:30.247
5	99	Chip Ganassi Racing	DNF	Kyle LeDuc	N/A	Sara Price	N/A

Heat #2

Finish	Number	Team	Total Time	Driver #1	Lap Time	Driver #2	Lap Time
1	55	ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team	9:32.591	Carlos Sainz	3:53.526	Laia Sanz	3:58.336
2	5	Veloce Racing	9:38.772	Christine GZ	4:11.440	Lance Woolridge	3:57.509
3	58	McLaren XE	9:42.824	Tanner Foust	3:59.283	Emma Gilmour	4:00.562
4	22	JBXE	9:43.052	Hedda Hosås	4:17.737	Kevin Hansen	3:45.601
5	125	ABT CUPRA XE	9:49.593	Jutta Kleinschmidt	4:22.244	Nasser Al-Attiyah	3:47.195

Round #1

Finish	Number	Team	Total Time	Driver #1	Lap Time	Driver #2	Lap Time
1	6	Rosberg X Racing	9:13.966	Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky	3:56.833	Johan Kristoffersson	3:37.567
2	55	ACCIONA | Sainz XE Team	9:25.859	Laia Sanz	4:00.649	Carlos Sainz	3:43.996
3	23	Andretti United XE	9:26.977	Timmy Hansen	3:49.392	Catie Munnings	3:54.930
4	125	ABT CUPRA XE	9:29.710	Nasser Al-Attiyah	3:44.823	Jutta Kleinschmidt	4:04.172
5	42	XITE Energy Racing	9:32.482	Tamara Molinaro	4:02.964	Timo Scheider	3:47.621
6	22	JBXE	9:44.426	Kevin Hansen	3:50.994	Hedda Hosås	4:13.688
7	44	X44	11:20.974	Sébastien Loeb	4:23.725	Cristina Gutiérrez	3:59.049
8	58	McLaren XE	8:49.866 (DNF)	Emma Gilmour	4:00.857	Tanner Foust	1:39.905
9	99	Chip Ganassi Racing	4:02.753 (DNF)	Sara Price	4:02.753	Kyle LeDuc	N/A
10	5	Veloce Racing	DNF	Lance Woolridge	N/A	Christine GZ	N/A

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