Kempten, Germany – Finally: Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekström clinched their first trophy in Extreme E in Sardinia. In a dramatic finale and with an impressive race to catch up after a botched start, the German-Swedish duo celebrated second place in the so-called Island X Prix on the coast of the Italian island. After three race weekends with a wide variety of challenges, ABT CUPRA XE kept a cool head even in changing weather conditions and rewarded themselves with the first podium finish in the series for all-electric SUVs.

“Congratulations to the entire team, this success is more than deserved,” said ABT CEO Thomas Biermaier, who followed the Island X Prix in the garage and command centre. “We have already had to deal with a few setbacks this season. Nevertheless, we have never given up, but always motivated ourselves anew. Jutta and Mattias have become a super team – it’s a lot of fun to watch them prepare together. Now they have finally rewarded themselves and the whole team.”

The weekend in Sardinia was also marked by some ups and downs: In free practice, the power steering failed, causing valuable preparation time to be lost. From qualifying onwards, the e-CUPRA ABT XE1 then ran smoothly: third place after qualifying paved the way to the strongly contested second semi-final, where ABT CUPRA XE met the eventual winner RXR and Carlos Sainz’ team and finished second.

The final, in which five cars competed against each other, began with a little shock moment: Jutta Kleinschmidt stood a good three seconds too long and then chased after the field. And how she did that: After only half a lap she had caught up with the leader and handed over the car, which by now was marked by rain and mud, to her team mate in second place. Ekström’s attack on the eventual winners quickly came to an end, however, when a door came off and the team therefore decided, also in view of the water crossings, to rather drive home second place safely.

“Another crazy weekend, but this time with the happy ending for us,” said a delighted Mattias Ekström. “We fought bravely and with a lot of heart today, but also drove very smart – thanks for that to the whole team.” Jutta Kleinschmidt said: “I’m especially happy for the guys who give everything every weekend and take great care of us. Now we have the first trophy and of course we want to follow up in England.”

The finale of the first Extreme E season will be held on 18 and 19 December at the so-called Jurassic X Prix in Dorset (Great Britain).

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Kempten, Germany – Actually ABT CUPRA XE wanted to celebrate the birthday of its driver Jutta Kleinschmidt on Sunday with champagne on the podium. However, after a brilliant performance in qualifying, where Jutta Kleinschmidt and Mattias Ekström finished second overall, the team was stopped in the semi-final on Sunday morning. The reason was a technical issue on the drive shaft of the all-electric single-spec car.

“Unfortunately, we experienced another unfortunate semi-final today because the drive shaft gave up after just a few seconds. So we fought the competition with blunt weapons and had no chance for a spot in the final,” says Mattias Ekström. Together with his teammate, he had caused a stir on Saturday with a strong performance in qualifying: after both runs, the Swedish-German duo finished second.

“The race day was then absolutely not what we had hoped for. What remains are the impressions from our visit to Greenland and of course lots of data. We will analyse everything very carefully and then attack again in Sardinia at the end of October,” says Ekström. Just six seconds after the start of the second semi-final against the teams of Nico Rosberg and Michael Andretti, the race car with Jutta Kleinschmidt at the wheel suffered a defect on the rear right drive shaft and was subsequently barely drivable. Although the 2001 Dakar winner and also Mattias Ekström fought bravely over the eight-kilometre circuit, a spot in the final remained out of reach.

“It’s my birthday today, but unfortunately we all didn’t get the present we had hoped for,” said Jutta Kleinschmidt. “The track here in Greenland was extremely demanding for the cars, we saw that in many incidents over the past few days. It hit us in the semi-final after just a few metres, it was simply out of our hands. On the positive side, we’ve seen that we’re right on track when everything runs smoothly. We want to and will prove that in Sardinia.”

The next Extreme E event is on the calendar on October 23 and 24: The nine teams will then fight for the next victory at the Island X Prix in Sardinia (Italy).

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