With Extreme E’s Antofagasta Minerals Copper X Prix on the horizon this weekend (24-25 September), the electric off-road series is revealing a thrilling course that brings the 10 teams and 20 world-class drivers to Chile for the championship’s first-ever South American event.
NEOM McLaren XE, Veloce Racing and ABT CUPRA XE have all shown glimpses of what it takes to win in a race in Extreme E, but their pace is yet to yield results.
Sitting at the bottom of the standings with nineteen, seven and six points respectively, the current back runners will be giving it their all to get solid points in Chile.
NEOM McLaren Extreme E nearly had the debut of dreams in NEOM, Saudi Arabia. Drivers, Tanner Foust and Emma Gilmour, delivered a thrilling performance on track to win the Crazy Race and secure a place in the Final first-time around.
A nasty accident for Foust in the Final denied them a shot at victory in their first ever X Prix, but their efforts set expectations high for the action to come in Sardinia.
The team started off the double-header as they hoped to go on, finishing third in Free Practice, but a DNF in Qualifying 1 denied them a spot in the Semi-Finals. All hopes of making it two Crazy Race wins from two ended with another crash for the team, this time for Gilmour just metres from the Start Line.
Following an impressive rebuild by the team, Gilmour and Foust took on Qualifying in the second part of the double-header. Despite driving a hastily repaired ODYSSEY 21, both drivers put in solid performances to secure that elusive spot in the Semi-Finals but failed to make it into the last race of the weekend.
Gilmour and Foust currently sit eighth in the Championship standings on 19 points, but with two rounds to go and fifth place just eight points ahead, there is every chance NEOM McLaren Extreme E could still gain some places.
The three-kilometre course, set in the heart of the Atacama Desert – the driest place on the planet – is an inherently remote and extreme setting for teams, with multiple elevation changes, variations in gradient, high-speed corners, and jumps, expected to result in the fastest, most thrilling race course yet for the drivers to navigate.
From the start there is plenty of opportunity for overtaking, making the deployment of the ENOWA Hyperdrive crucial as the drivers look to take several alternate lines to get the upper hand. Having plenty of passing room throughout for the drivers is the mantra for this Chilean course. It’s a design characteristic that is always sought in Extreme E – allowing creativity for overtaking right from the start is crucial to that – and the Antofagasta layout is testament to that.
Making use of different levels of banking across the course will also be crucial. The quick change in direction through the use of the banking and gradients means there are also plenty of blind spots, so the drivers really have to be on their game during the course walk and make the most of those areas.
One thing that should create plenty of excitement is the jumps out on course… and there are plenty of them! There is always a fine line between carrying too much speed over them or not enough, so trying to find that sweet spot to make up time and not overextend the ODYSSEY 21s through overdriving is going to be crucial.
Such is the free-flowing nature of the track keeping a mistakes to a minimum is vital, especially with five bonus points on offer thanks to the Continental Traction Challenge.
The finishing line coincides with one final jump, which is hoped to provide an exciting climax to the course layout. Drivers will be dared into trying one final overtake just before the conclusion of the lap, so be sure to expect plenty of photo finishes as the layout ends with the ODYSSEY 21s getting airborne.
The Antofagasta Minerals Copper X Prix begins this weekend (24-25 September).
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