Even a new driver couldn’t stop Team Rosberg X Racing from winning the Extreme E season opener. Extreme E is in its second season and the series was back in Saudi Arabia in Neom. Johan Kristoffersson and his new female teammate Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky took the first win of the season. Kristofferson and RXR are the defending champions.
Qualifying first on the grid was team X44. At the end of the first lap, team McLaren’s Tanner Foust clipped the back of RXR’s Odyssey 21 causing Foust to roll the car. A red flag was brought out. When the race resumed, officials started the cars out for a one-lap shootout, releasing them at intervals on how they entered the Switch Zone. X44’s Christina Gutierrez was behind the wheel attempting to chase down Laia Sanz. While all of this was happening, Kristofferson took a wide line passing both for the lead and the win.
It feels really good, but every week feels good. Every time we go for a race we have the aim to win, but the competition is so high this year, especially with McLaren coming in, which raises the bar even higher. We learned quite a lot last year, but now things are even tighter we’ll have to work even harder. I’m just very happy to start off the season with maximum points.” said RXR driver Johan Kristoffersson.