- A malfunction of the Odyssey21 vehicle’s steering system stopped the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team from reaching the final after Carlos Sainz’s great start in the 2nd Semifinal
A steering system malfunction in the official race car (Odyssey21) defeated the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team’s aspirations on its way to securing a place in the Enel X Island X Prix Extreme E Final.
Carlos Sainz applied a new starting strategy that quickly put him in contention for the first place in Semifinal 2. However, a steering system problem made the car uncompetitive. Far from giving up, although still without a chance, Laia Sanz completed the lap with the damaged off-road SUV.
Mechanical issues with the standard championship vehicle were a constant concern for all Extreme E teams during the Enel X Island X Prix, and the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team was one of the most troubled by this.
Despite its good performance when it was able to compete on track, the ACCIONA team falls one place in the overall standings and approaches the last race, the Jurassic X Prix, from the sixth place with 78 points.
The race ended with the victory of the Rosberg X Racing team, which maintains the lead in the championship.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The Enel X Island X Prix portrays the direct impact of global warming through increasingly intense heat waves, drought and, above all, the major fires that ravage the Mediterranean coast every year.
The fire-damaged natural environment of Capo Teulada, located in the south of the Sardinia island, is the venue for this race in which nine teams compete with their 100% electric Odyssey 21 SUVs powered by green hydrogen systems.
ACCIONA participates in this sustainable transition in motor racing with the ACCIONA | SAINZ XE Team, which aims to increase the social commitment in the fight against climate change, promoting sustainable mobility and gender equality through sport.
For this Enel X Island X Prix the championship has been involved in several environmental awareness activities with the guidance of a specialized scientific committee. Extreme E and its teams supported the efforts of two local NGOs to restore the forests of the Oristan area, affected by major fires, and the Posidonia oceanica beds, one of the largest Mediterranean carbon sinks.
With this foray into high-level motor racing, ACCIONA seeks to reinforce its social commitment to the fight against climate change and the need to speed up the transition to a low-carbon economy through mass sport events.
FINAL RACE
After the Sardinia race, Extreme E will gear up for the last race of its inaugural season with the result yet to be settled. The Jurassic X Prix in Dorset, a county in the southern coast of England (UK), will bring the series to a close on the weekend of December 17th-19th.
The race will seek to highlight the need to change mobility concepts to leave the combustion engine behind, on which the British Army is already working hard. For this reason, the race will be held in Bovington, a well-known British Army military base located in the Jurassic coast.