Extreme E had a thrilling weekend during the Enel X Island X Prix in Sardinia, where Rosberg X Racing, X44 and Andretti United arrived as the three candidates to become the first champions. However, an incident between Timmy Hansen and Cristina Gutiérrez unbalanced the equation for the end of the season.
Hansen (Andretti) and Gutierrez (X44) were matched up in Semifinal 1 alongside Sara Price’s Chip Gannasi Racing. Right at the start of this stage, the Spanish driver took advantage with the Swede having better traction, so being overtaken by him was to be expected. What was not in the equation was Timmy’s path, who rammed Cristina and left her out of the fight.
This made it too complicated for Lewis Hamilton’s team, but after an investigation of the maneuver by the stewards it was determined that the Andretti man was responsible for the collision, and therefore, Andretti was relegated to third place, clearing the way for X44 to participate in the Final Race.
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According to Hansen, Sara Price hit her ODYSSEY 21 and that led him to do the same to Gutierrez. Although, Roger Griffiths thinks his driver was a passenger aboard the vehicle before impacting Cristina, ending her aspirations of carrying out a good lap during that leg of the competition.
“Unfortunately there was a contact between Timmy and Sara and, from then on, Timmy was a passenger. It was unfortunate that he hit the back of Cristina, but there was no intention to hit her. We spent a lot of time talking to the stewards, but in the end they made a decision we respect. Sometimes this happens in racing.”
Finally, Hansen also revealed that he had no intention of hitting his rival. “… I’m sorry it happened to them, we gave them our GridPlay votes and our mechanics helped them get their car ready for the final. We’ll put what happened behind us and be fully focused for the final race.”
Now, the stage for the title decider between X44 and Rosberg X Racing will be set for the Jurassic X Prix in the United Kingdom on December 18th-19th. Nico Rosberg’s team leads the fight for the first position of the championship with 129 points, while Lewis Hamilton’s team has 113 points.
Written by | Ronald Ortega
