image courtesy of Extreme H
Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor were crowned World Cup Champions for Jameel Motorsport last weekend as Extreme H made its racing series debut in Qiddiya, Saudi Arabia.
In an all new format, teams went through three rounds of qualifying, earning points to set the grid for Saturday’s final. The Saudi Arabian team, Jameel Motorsport, took top qualifying spot, before taking victory in the eight-car final. Here’s how the week unfolded.
Time Trial
The Extreme H World Cup started with a Time Trial, with teams completing two runs each and the times being added together.
After the first runs it was Extreme E’s most successful driver pairing, Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky and Johan Kristofferson, who topped the time sheets for Kristofferson Motorsport (KMS). Jameel Motorsport, however, were just over a tenth behind. Elsewhere, JBX showed strong pace, but received a time penalty for knocking down a flag.
The second session of the Time Trial followed a very similar pattern to the first. Kristofferson Motorsport once again took the top spot, just five tenths ahead of Jameel Motorsport in second place. Team Even rounded out the top three, some four seconds back from the top two.
Overall, KMS took the ten qualifying points for having the fastest combined time in the Time Trial, with Jameel Motorsport six tenths behind them. Third place went to Team Hansen, who edged out Team Even by a second. JBX, Carl Cox Motorsport, and Zeroid were not far behind, as Team Stard brought up the rear and took just three points following their drivetrain issues in the first session.
Head to Head
The second round of qualifying saw the introduction of a new format for the Extreme motorsport family. In a style akin to a drag-race, each team competed in a total of four head-to-head heats on a straight section of the track. Starting at the top of a hill, teams would have to negotiate a small chicane and a jump to see who would cross the line first. Points were awarded based on who won and how close the other team finished to the winner, with the top four teams advancing to the semi-final.
In a tightly contested set of heats, it was the leaders of the Time Trial, KMS, who were the biggest losers. Winning just one of their four heats, the Swedish team finished bottom of the head-to-head standings, adding just three points to their qualification total. Jameel Motorsport, on the other hand, won all four of their heats and went through to the semi-final on maximum points. Joining them would be Carl Cox Motorsport, who had had a big turnaround in fortunes from the previous day, alongside Team Stard and JBX.
The first semi-final saw Kevin Hansen of Jameel Motorsport compete against Carl Cox Motorsport’s Timo Scheider. Hansen got the best get-away and held on to take his team through to the final. In the other semi-final, Patrick O’Donovan capitalised on a Christine GZ mistake to take team Stard to the final.
The perfect day was not to be for Jameel Motorsport, however, as Amanda Sorenson pipped Molly Taylor on the line by just 0.082s, giving victory to the Austrian team. Team Stard took the ten points, but Jameel Motorsport went top of the overall qualifying table. A poor day for KMS saw them drop down to third, a point behind Team Hansen.
Multi-Car
The final round of qualifying would be one familiar to viewers of Extreme E, as teams competed in two four-car heats and awarded points based on finishing position.
Qualifying 1 Heat 1 saw a familiar face at the top, as Jameel Motorsport comfortably took the victory. Their closest competitor, Team Even, finished almost ten seconds behind the Saudi Arabian team. The poor results for KMS continued, as they finished last and two and a half minutes behind Jameel Motorsport.
The second heat of Qualifying 1 was a lot closer affair, as Zeroid edged out Team Hansen by just 3.7s. JBX came in a similar distance behind, but Carl Cox Motorsport would not complete more than a lap.
Team Hansen would go one better in Qualifying 2 Heat 1, crossing the line first, and taking maximum points from the heat. Carl Cox Motorsport finished twelve seconds behind them to take second place, with Jameel Motorsport on a rare off race coming in narrowly behind,
In the final action of qualifying, KMS proved they are an all-or-nothing team, as they took victory and regained some crucial qualifying points in the second heat of Qualifying 2. Meanwhile JBX continued their decent showing, coming in second place, beating our Zeroid and Team Even.
World Cup Final
With qualifying now all said and done, it was unsurprisingly Jameel Motorsport who would start on pole for the eight-car final. Team Hansen would start just behind them after putting in a consistently strong showing across all three formats. Kristofferson Motorsport and Zeroid qualified third and fourth, with JBX Carl Cox Motorsport, Team Even, and Team Stard making up the back half of the grid.
Jameel Motorsport got the best getaway from the front row and lead after the first corner. Just behind them, however, three teams began to battle for second place. Team Hansen were the team who came out the worst for it, after heavy contact forced them off the track and to the back of the pack.
On the second lap of the race, disaster struck for Team Zeroid. After running in third up until that point, Fraser McConnell rolled his Zeroid machine, which ended up planted on its side. Fortunately the Jamaican driver was able to clamber out of the car, but the team would go no further in the race.
As the team entered the switch zone, Jameel Motorsport held a commanding lead over Carl Cox Motorsport and KMS. Team Hansen were still in the race, but a long way back from the rest of the field.
They would still get their chance to make up positions, however, as KMS’s week continued to get worse. In the same corner that McConnell had rolled his car, Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky went very deep and missed the corner. The resulting time she lost saw KMS drop to seventh position, behind Team Hansen’s Catie Munnings.
But the drama wasn’t finished there. On the hill climb, JBX’s Christine GZ came to a halt, dropping them down to seventh place from fifth, where they would ultimately fail to finish.
Unaffected by what was going on behind them, Jameel Motorsport would take a light-to-flag victory to win the maiden Extreme H World Cup on home soil. Carl Cox Motorsport, who had struggled for much of the week, would cross the line in second place, closely followed by Team Even, who rounded off the podium. Team Stard would get a hard-fought fourth place, as Team Hansen, KMS, and JBX completed the classified runners list.
A dominant week from Jameel Motorsport was capped off with a dominant drive in the final. Whether they can hold onto their crown next year, or whether one of the challengers will be able to prise it off them, remains to be seen. One things for sure, though, you’re not going to want to miss it.
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