The Extreme E changed the format of its first Xprix in Al-Ula due to the large clouds of dust that have been encountered when arriving to Saudi Arabia. The qualifying races on Saturday will become individual events against the clock while on Sunday the semifinals and the final will be in groups of three.
The Extreme E’s plans for its inaugural Xprix have not gone as planned. The category has had to change the system of its weekend of competition for safety reasons, as the dust raised by the cars is greater than there was during the month of January in the inspection of the track.
Consequently, the category commanded by Alejandro Agag has been forced to react and the competition format of the two days has changed.
Modifications
On Saturday the multi-car qualifying races have been replaced by individual starts. Each pair will do one in the morning and one in the afternoon. The average time between the two laps will decide the grid for the semi-finals. The starting order of each team in the classification will be drawn.
The semifinals and the final will be held on Sunday and will have a maximum of three participants, instead of the five and four that they had planned under normal conditions.
The Extreme E prioritizes the safety of the drivers and seeing that the conditions are not the same as in January, they have modified the format. The founder of the category, Alejandro Agag, is confident that the weekend will go ahead safely and that fans can enjoy the show at this first X-Prix.
“There was no dust because of the humidity of the night. The sand was more humid. The cars were going and no dust was coming up. We arrived here last week: huge clouds of dust. So, we tweaked the race format. Saturday, one by one. It’s going to be very cool. Then, races of three cars instead of four [and five] cars,” Agag explained in words to the British magazine Autorsport.
Regarding the order of drivers, each team will have to decide between their mixed partners which of their drivers will start first five minutes before starting each test. They must communicate it before each test so that there are no changes when the teams know the selected one of their rivals.
Written by I Jhonattan González
