X44 completes Extreme E qualifying home run

X44 rounds out Extreme E qualifying top of the order again.

The Sebastien Loeb-Cristina Gutierrez pairing has topped qualifying every weekend in the inaugural season of Extreme E.

In the second qualifying run of the weekend for the Jurassic X-Prix, X44 was more than four seconds quicker than the next fastest team.

They narrowly missed out on being quickest in the Super Sector. The fastest team through the sector this weekend will receive five additional points. Rosberg X Racing currently holds the fastest time after an impressive performance in qualifying.

JBXE topped the second qualifying session early on with a 9m18.908s time, which RXR were unable to beat.

X44 managed to go 4s quicker with a 9m14.793s as they took maximum qualifying points from the weekend.

RXR was third quickest in the second qualifying session, but their earlier performance placed them second overall.

Joining RXR in the first Semi final will be the Sainz duo of Carlos Sainz and Laia Sainz, and ABT’s Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekstroem. The session got off to a bad start for ABT as Kleinschmidt took the wrong route, earning a time penalty which cost them valuable seconds, and they ended the session sixth, but their Q1 time was enough to put them P4.

X44 is joined in the second Semi-Final by JBXE and Veloce.

It was a difficult end to the day for Chip Ganassi Racing. After a strong performance by Sara Price, the team lost time in the switch zone, then Kyle LeDuc made a mistake at the start of his lap. LeDuc ran through brush and was able to continue, but had damage to his steering. He completed the lap, but it wasn’t enough to secure a place in the Semi-Finals.

Andretti also had trouble on its run. Timmy Hansen had just set the then quickest sector in the Super Sector, but a small mistake sent him off through brush. He had significant bodywork damage but was able to bring the car home.

The two American teams are joined by Xite Energy in the Crazy Race, in which only the winner goes through to the Finals.

Image courtesy of Extreme E