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ABT CUPRA will travel to the Extreme E event in Sardinia with a new driver pairing: On Saturday and Sunday (8 and 9 July), Sébastien Loeb will start alongside Klara Andersson for the German-Spanish team. The record World Rally champion will be standing in for regular driver Nasser Al-Attiyah in Italy, who will be competing in the Baja World Cup at the same time. The goal of the reigning Extreme E champion Loeb and the Swede is clear: They want to fight for victory at one of the highlights of the current season.
“We are all looking forward to Seb’s comeback with our team. He knows the championship, he knows the car and he has been on the grid every time in Sardinia – I am sure he will be fully on pace from the very first moment,” says ABT CEO and Team Principal Thomas Biermaier. “We’ve had the potential for podium finishes at two events now but have come up empty twice mostly through no fault of our own. In Sardinia, we finally want to put all the pieces of the puzzle together for a perfect race day. Our goal remains trophies.”
The venue for the Island X Prix, which will be held with two separate race days on Saturday and Sunday, is the NATO training area near Porto Pino in southwestern Sardinia, as in the past two years. New and thus unfamiliar to all drivers is the layout of the track, which has been modified and shortened compared to previous years. Each race thus consists of four laps, two per driver.
The race days on Saturday and Sunday will start at 10:30 a.m. local time with qualifying, followed by the two final races from 5:15 p.m. onwards. A list of all the channels broadcasting the guest race in Italy can be found here: www.extreme-e.com. For ABT, it’s a double-header weekend: At the same time as the Extreme E, the team will be competing in the season highlight and home race of the DTM at the Norisring.
Klara Andersson: “Seb is one of the heroes of my childhood”
For Klara Andersson, it’s the first start in Sardinia – and one under very special auspices. “I can hardly wait to be back with the team and tackle the next races,” says the 23-year-old Swede. “It’s very special for me to race together with Seb. He is one of my childhood heroes and also one of the best in our sport.” This weekend in Höljes, Andersson completed her home race of the current World Rallycross Championship season – there still as a competitor to Loeb. “It feels good to be in the race car a lot. Seb and I know each other from rallycross and will definitely work well together in Sardinia – I’m looking forward to it.”
Sébastien Loeb: “Excited about the new format”
“I’m excited about the chance to compete in Extreme E again,” says Sébastien Loeb. With second place in his first season and the title last year, he is one of the most successful drivers of the championship. “I’m curious to get to know the new format of the weekend this season – it’s completely different, but I’m sure I’ll get used to it quickly.” In addition to some familiar faces in the team, he also already knows his teammate Klara. “We contest the World Rallycross Championship together and know each other well. I’ll give her the best possible support in Sardinia and do everything I can to ensure that we’re successful together.”
Spectacular design for the CUPRA Tavascan XE
The current season sees the team’s car sporting an updated livery to match the team’s Formula E car, the UrbanRebel and CUPRA e-Racer: a multi-layered and chameleon-like body colour that combines a deep purple and neon yellow. The all-electric off-road racer hints at the design language of the future Tavascan production car, the brand’s second all-electric model, which is being developed in Barcelona and will be launched in Europe and overseas in 2024.
Even more racing, even more excitement
Extreme E presents itself in 2023 with radically changed regulations: Two separate races will be held each weekend on Saturday and Sunday. This means that the third season will consist of five double-header events with a total of ten races. In addition, there will be even more racing action in qualifying instead of a single time trial. In detail: a Friday with two free practice sessions will be followed by two independent race days. The first and second qualifying sessions in the morning will each consist of two races in which five cars will compete against each other. This is where the participants for the “Grand Final” (top 5) and the “Redemption Race” (positions 6 to 10) will be determined.
GridPlay: How fans can support ABT CUPRA XE
With GridPlay fans can support their favorite team: The starting positions for the “Grand Final” are determined by fan voting. Fans can vote twice daily on the Extreme E website. The teams that do not make it to the “Grand Final” will give their votes to their preferred team. Starting positions for the “Redemption Race” will be determined by the results of the qualifying sessions, with the sixth-placed team voting first.
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