- The ABT CUPRA XE team finishes in seventh position in the Arctic X Prix, the first motorsport event held in Greenland
- Mattias Ekström and Jutta Kleinschmidt reached the Semi-Final, but a technical issue halted their progress
- The team leaves Greenland with a good feeling after showing their speed on the qualifying day
Kangerlussuaq, 30-08-2021 - The ABT CUPRA XE team's goal was fighting for the victory in the return to Extreme E action in Greenland, the most extreme place possible for a motorsport competition, and where the effects of climate change are clearly visible. Mattias Ekström and Jutta Kleinschmidt started the weekend with a very good feeling at the wheel of the e-CUPRA ABT XE1, the team's 100% electric SUV, and finished the qualifying day among the top positions, but a technical issue prevented them from fighting for the victory on Sunday.
The first contact with the circuit prepared in Kangerlussuaq (Greenland) was very positive for the ABT CUPRA XE, setting the fastest time in practice on Friday, demonstrating its speed and quick adaptation to a track never visited before. The team formed by Ekström and Kleinschmidt faced Saturday with optimism and continued scoring good results. It was the second team with the most points in qualifying and, with this result, moved on to Semi-Final 2, where it would face two other teams: the best two would go on to the Final.
ABT CUPRA XE was ready to continue its progression and fight for the overall victory, but was prevented from doing so by a sudden problem with the vehicle's drive shaft. The team finished in seventh place in the final Arctic X Prix standings and is now in sixth place in the championship.
"Unfortunately, we had another difficult Semi-final again due to a driveshaft problem that prevented us from fighting for the victory," said Ekström, CUPRA official male driver in this championship and in PURE ETCR, where he is fighting for the title with the CUPRA e-Racer. "The race day didn't go as we expected, but we showed our good pace, we were competitive during the weekend and we also collected a lot of data that we will analyse calmly to continue to improve. We will go all out for the next race!"
"Despite racing on my birthday, I didn't get the present I was hoping for," said Jutta Kleinschmidt, who took part in her second Extreme E event at the wheel of the e-CUPRA ABT XE1. "The Greenland track was very demanding for all the cars, as we saw throughout the weekend. Our fight for a place in the final ended after just a few metres, but we were left with our good pace. We will prove it again at the next event.”
The fourth event of the inaugural Extreme E season, the Island X Prix, will be held in Sardinia (Italy) on the 23-24th of October.
