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Sardinia penalty reviewed; RXR dropped to fifth

Rosberg X Racing has been dropped to fifth in the results of the Island X-Prix after an appeal by the Acciona Sainz team.

Johan Kristoffersson and Carlos Sainz Snr collided at the start of the first final in Sardinia. Sainz rolled in what he called one of the most serious accidents of his racing career, but Kristoffersson was able to continue.

RXR won the race on track by more than 10 seconds, but were then handed a 30s penalty for the incident.

The penalty meant Chip Ganassi Racing was awarded its maiden Extreme E victory while RXR was relegated to third.

However, Sainz stated he was “really disappointed” with the light penalty.

More than a month later, the incident was reviewed by stewards from Extreme E’s governing body, Automobile Club de Monaco. In order to stay consistent with previous penalties handed out in the championship, RXR was relegated to fifth in the race, promoting JBXE and Sainz XE up to third and fourth respectively.

RXR said in a statement: “Footage/onboards from the NEOM Island X Prix 1 Final. To say that our team is disappointed to now be classified 5th in the final after this unfortunate (and in our mind unavoidable) racing incident is an understatement.

“We hope for better circuit layouts from extreme e in future to ensure the safety of all involved. When two cars are racing flat out and have to merge into a single lane, there are bound to be collisions. Such racing incidents should be avoided entirely.

“At the end of the day we remain committed to working together with the Extreme E family to drive awareness, educate and help tackle climate change. And we hope to drive that message home with yet another championship win still to come. Watch this space…”

RXR remains top of the championship standings, 37 points ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing.

Image courtesy of Extreme E

Bethonie Waring

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