Neustadt, 24. September 2022. It was a mixed start to the weekend for Rosberg X Racing, but ended with a perfect result. After a dramatic turn of events during the second qualifying session, the Championship leader finished on top of the qualifying board of this weekend’s Antofagasta Minerals Copper X Prix.
The first Qualifying session was a smooth run for the German squad. A slightly wet, but drying track allowed for faster lap times than during Friday’s practice sessions. RXR’s drivers Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Kristoffersson showed the commanding performance that their fans have gotten used to by now, resulting in an overall qualifying time of 8:49.216, over five seconds quicker than X44 Vida Carbon Racing, with Sébastien Loeb stealing the quickest lap time of the session away from Kristoffersson. RXR’s nearest championship challenger No.99 GMC Hummer EV Chip Ganassi Racing finished third.
The second Qualifying session proved to be much more tricky. The short course had many challenges up its sleeve for the five cars racing door to door in the bright afternoon. RXR started from the middle position, but Kristoffersson - who went out first - struggled and dropped back to the fourth position. The group plowed away ahead of him, causing a lot of dust and a compromised view for the Swede, so he missed the waypoint resulting in a five second penalty for RXR. Åhlin-Kottulinsky managed to make a good restart getting in behind front runner Katie Munnings but Mikaela played it safe and eventually came in second behind Genesys Andretti United Extreme E. All things were not lost for RXR as penalties for X44 Vida Carbon Racing meant the team ended up on P1 after all.
Rosberg X Racing driver, Johan Kristoffersson, commented: “We started off really well this morning. The car felt great and we had a good run. In the second session I reacted too slow and had a bit of contact on turn 1, which limited my visibility. The session was difficult, but I am happy that we got out in P1.”
Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky, Rosberg X Racing driver, said: “You can’t afford any mistakes on this track so my strategy was to take it steady. I had two fantastic laps in Q1 but Q2 was a bit of a carnage. When Johan handed the car over, it had taken some hits so I wanted to bring it back safely. P1 is a great result so I’m excited for tomorrow.”
The semi-finals begin tomorrow at 2.10 pm CET. For information on how to watch the Copper X Prix, please visit https://www.extreme-e.com/en/broadcast-information. ENDS