Rosberg Team Takes Fifth Extreme E Victory In Sardinia Race 2

Rosberg X Racing won the fifth Extreme E in Sardinia's second part of the Island X Prix doubleheader.

Johan Kristoffersson's team and Mikaela Ahlin Kottulinsky's faced a difficult battle with Abt Cupra’s Nasser Al–Attiyah, and Jutta Klitzschmidt in final. The battle was ultimately futile after the latter was disqualified for safety system violations.

Al-Attiyah, the Cupra driver, was the first to get off to the best start. He took Timmy Hansen, Andretti United's Timmy Hansen, off the track.

After initially taking an alternate route down the middle with Sebastien Loeb of X44, Kristoffersson from RXR came in second. Al-Attiyah pulled out right away, and held a 1.5 second lead by the 10th Waypoint and by the mid-race driver switch, held a 5.579s advantage.

Abt Cupra was going to lose her day when she switched, and Kleinschmidt was forced to leave the pits after one of her safety straps was not properly secured. Despite her initial efforts to maintain first, Ahlin-Kottulinsky was relentlessly hounding her.

Ahlin-Kottulinsky climbed up the inside to take the lead at the Waypoint 10 watersplash.

Abt Cupra's second-place finish on the road proved to be of little relevance with the team being disqualified from the full event after the conclusion of the race. That gave second to X44's Loeb and Cristina Gutierrez, who had closed right up to Kleinschmidt by the end of the race and was scored 8.227s behind the race winners.

RACE WINNING MOMENT

Rosberg X Racing are a step above the rest as they WIN the NEOM Island X Prix II!#ExtremeE #IslandXPrix pic.twitter.com/PqcFSbNR05

Hansen of Andretti United and Catie munnings were third because Abt Cupra disqualified them. Laia Sanz and Carlos Sainz from Acciona Sainz were fourth despite not finishing. Sainz pulled off the course in Waypoint 19 on the first lap due to a mechanical problem. McLaren's Tanner Foust (McLaren) and Gilmour were placed fifth.
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RXR's final victory came after a relatively routine semifinal win earlier in the day.

Waypoint 3 won the first semi. Sara Price from Chip Ganassi Racing made contact with Sanz while trying pass.

Although the move did earn her a place, she moved up to second. However, her right-rear suspension failed due to the collision, leaving her disappearing into the undergrowth. This resulted in the round two winners' race being shortened. The incident was investigated, but quickly deemed a racing incident by race control. RXR, however, was untroubled and remained at the front, locking in its final spot.

Jutta Kleinschmidt, Abt Cupra XE, leads Cristina Gutierrez, Team X44. Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images

The second semi was much more entertaining, with Kleinschmidt and McLaren’s Gilmour engaging in a thrilling battle for second on lap one as Gutierrez surged ahead.

Gilmour remained roughly within a second of the Dakar veteran until Waypoint 21 when she briefly got by but couldn't make the move stick. Both were 10 seconds behind the leading X44 car and covered by 0.84s. But the winner of the race was far from decided.

Al-Attiyah immediately took a charge, more that halving X44’s lead, Loeb apparently suffering a power problem.

He was able to maintain the lead, but only by 4 seconds. The McLaren entry, piloted by Foust for the second lap, ended the race 19.453s off the lead.

Andretti United won its last berth in the thrilling Crazy Race.

Munnings started strong, but Veloce’s Lance Woolridge - who took a different line off the start – pressed her throughout the first lap. Munnings made contact on the merge of the two start routes, but was still in front at Waypoint 3.

Woolridge tried another line into 21 but, despite halving it to just 0.2s he was still unable to find a way past.

Four gates later, they made contact again. Woolridge went off course and took out the Waypoint flag. He held second place, but Munnings was ahead.

Catie Munnings and Lance Woolridge collide battling for the lead in the Crazy Race! #ExtremeE pic.twitter.com/2S9VTfsLoi

- ExtremeE (@ExtremeELive), July 10, 20,22

After the driver change, an all-Hansen duel for the win was set up, but while pushing his elder brother for the lead, Kevin Hansen lost control on the exit of Waypoint 13, the spin also taking out a flag at the next gate. That would result in a 10s penalty for the JBXE team, but with the same penalty also applied to Veloce for Woolridge's off-track excursion, it didn't change the result.

XITE Energy Racing was unable to finish the Crazy Race. Tamara Molinaro was left behind by Woolridge's dusty tracks. Timo Scheider was later unable to finish the second lap due to a mechanical problem.