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A superstar in the ABT CUPRA car: Sébastien Loeb will start for the team at the Island X Prix and fight for the first victory of the season in Extreme E alongside Klara Andersson. The record world rally champion will be standing in for regular driver Nasser Al-Attiyah, who is competing in the Baja World Cup at the same time, at the two races in Sardinia (8 and 9 July). Loeb won the series for electric off-road race cars last year.
“Nasser leads the FIA Baja World Cup with two wins and has asked to be allowed to contest the third round on the same weekend – we want to make that possible for him,” says ABT CEO and Team Principal Thomas Biermaier. “We are happy that together with CUPRA we managed to sign Seb as a great stand-in. Having the record world champion and reigning Extreme E champion on our team is an honor. We are all looking forward to the weekend in Sardinia. We want to have a lot of fun together, but also be successful from a sporting perspective – the goal is clearly a win.”
After two years in Lewis Hamilton’s Team X44, Sébastien Loeb now returns to the series in the CUPRA Tavascan XE. “I’m looking forward to returning to Extreme E after two seasons in the past. It’s a competition that’s similar to Rallycross, so I think I’ll be on the pace and ready to fight. It’s also going to be great to discover a new team and meet up with Klara again,” says the 49-year-old Frenchman. Runner-up in his first season, Loeb won both the team and driver titles last season. He had won the World Rally Championship nine consecutive times from 2004 to 2012.
The Island X Prix, which will feature two separate races, is the third event in the current Extreme E season. Previously, races in Saudi Arabia and Scotland were on the schedule. ABT CUPRA XE is one of the founding members of the series and has been competing since the first race in April 2021.
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Company profile of ABT Sportsline
As the world’s largest specialist for automotive aftermarket and performance parts for the Audi, VW, Seat, CUPRA and Skoda brands, the name ABT Sportsline is world-renowned. The product line ranges from more engine power to body kits, over suspensions and interior design, to an extensive collection of alloy wheels. However, the Bavaria-based company, which has its roots in 1896, stands for much more. Today, several attractive subsidiaries with a total of 210 employees join forces under the umbrella of ABT SE. In doing so, they elegantly combine innovation and tradition. When it comes to drivetrain technology, the German company always has its finger on the pulse of the times: through ABT e-Line GmbH, the areas of electric and alternative mobility are covered as a further strong pillar of the company. And of course ABT Sportsline also stands for top-level motorsport, as it always has. This is demonstrated by the success story in the DTM, which continues right up to the present day, as well as the current involvement in the forward-looking electric racing series Extreme E and Formula E.
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