Extreme E will call upon familiar faces to be the testers and reserves at this weekend’s Hydro X Prix as Tamara Molinaro and Tommi Hallman will serve as the Championship Drivers. The duo served in the same capacity at the 2023 race weekend.
Molinaro has been involved with or Extreme E since the middle of the inaugural season n 2021, frequently being called upon to replace female drivers who are unable to race at the last minute. She made her competition début in 2022 for XITE Energy Racing, initially on a substitute basis before becoming a full-time driver, then returned to her reserve duties in 2023. Molinaro was called upon again for that year’s Island X Prix II by McLaren after Emma Gilmour’s injury, then reunited with former fellow Championship Driver Andreas Bakkerud at JBXE for the Copper X Prix.
Her best career finish is a second at the first Island X Prix in 2022 with XITE.
Hallman is an up-and-coming rallycross prospect who has enjoyed success in a litany of series including RallyX Nordic, Nitrocross NEXT, and the FIA World Rallycross Championship’s RX2e class. He made his début in the lattermost championship with a bang when he won both of his starts in 2023, while also claiming six victories in the 2022/23 Nitrocross NEXT campaign.
The Finn is set to race in Nitrocross’ new NEXT EVO category, an electric vehicle like the FC1-X that its premier Group E uses but with elements from the existing NEXT car, for SET-LOENBRO. 2024/25 will be his first full-time campaign racing in America.
Christine GZ and Patrick O’Donovan were the Championship Drivers at the season-opening Desert X Prix in February. O’Donovan will race for Legacy Motor Club at the Hydro X Prix on 13/14 July.