Sardinia, 24 October 2021. Rosberg X Racing secured an emphatic win at the Enel X Island X Prix to extend its championship lead to 16 points ahead of the final round of the inaugural series of Extreme E.
Molly Taylor and Johan Kristoffersson had a challenging weekend, confronted with a technically demanding circuit, difficult qualifying sessions and fourth place on the starting grid. Displaying their racing expertise and determination again, Taylor and Kristoffersson were able to navigate the final with ease and bring the RXR ODYSSEY 21 home as the winner.
The Enel X Island X Prix, the penultimate race in the series, has proved one of the most punishing courses in the calendar with exposed, rocky terrain and limited visibility. Rosberg X Racing showed its reliability and determination to make it through difficult qualifying and Semi-Final sessions to finish the weekend with its third win of the season.
Following Saturday’s qualifying sessions, Kristoffersson took the first drive in Semi-Final 2, navigating the multi-lane start with a cool head and reaching the first merge point in the lead. Kristoffersson then dominated his session arriving at the Switch Point with a 17 second lead. Taylor then took to the wheel and managed to extend the gap to the rest of the pack to a minute and a half, leaving RXR in first place at the end of the Semi-Finals.
RXR headed into the five-team final in Gate 4 starting position with Molly Taylor taking the first lap. Opting not to take risks off the start, Taylor was able to get a clean start slotting into fourth place and then focus on the task at hand to close the gap to the leaders. Taylor delivered a perfect lap handing the car to Kristoffersson in second position.
Kristoffersson capitalised on the position, pushing the car to its limits and quickly closing the gap to Chip Ganassi Racing. Ganassi then suffered a steering failure, opening the door for Kristoffersson to storm into the lead and secure RXR’s third win in four races.
Extending its championship lead to 16 points, RXR heads to the final race of the Extreme E season with the title in its sights.
Following the Enel X Island X Prix, Molly Taylor said: “I’m absolutely over the moon and relieved after what felt like a really challenging weekend for us. It was a fantastic job by the whole team to keep fighting even as we came across some challenges right up until the very end. It was an extremely difficult race but we never gave up and I’m delighted with the result.”
Johan Kristoffersson, Rosberg X Racing driver, added: “Molly took the start and played it smart, not taking any big risks in the first hundred metres and avoided any damage. By the time I took control of the car, Molly had been able to update me on the conditions on the circuit and although I knew it would be difficult to take the lead, I just tried to manage the gap and avoid mistakes. The team has worked very hard all weekend so I’m really happy with the result.”
Rosberg X Racing Founder and CEO, Nico Rosberg, commented after the race: “This was an extremely difficult weekend for everyone; we suffered our own issues with a roll at the start of qualifying and a puncture for Johan. We kept pushing and we’re really happy with the result. It was an excellent team effort and we’ve focussed on avoiding issues by excelling in our race preparation so it was an amazing job by all the team.”
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