Extreme E || Race 2 - Ocean X Prix
This weekend saw the 2nd race of the inaugural Extreme E season with the Ocean X Prix in Dakar, Senegal. If Extreme E is new to you, I wrote an introductory post a couple of months ago following the 1st race in Saudi Arabia.
Having been disappointed with the 1st race due to the ridiculous quantity of sand being thrown up by the leading car (leading to very little actual racing), I was more optimistic about this weekend's race. The idea of an Ocean X Prix gave me visions of Batman's Tumblers splashing through oceanic waves along the sea front, or some kind of hybrid car / boat like you'd get in a James Bond movie. It was nothing like that though. It was a race, on a beach, which meant more sand.
Fortunately, the sand wasn't as silly as the last race which meant that drivers had decent visibility and the opportunity to race.
I find the qualifying a bit boring so didn't pay much attention to it, concentrating more on today's semi-finals and finals. I found it very enjoyable and it's nice to see 2016's F1 rivalry between Hamilton and Rosberg reignited in a new form, both F1 drivers owning a team that is at the front of the pack. Rosberg's team leading after the 1st race and both teams again reaching the final today.
Today's final saw 4 "tumblers", 1 more than the 1st race - More cars, more chance of a few bumps and some exciting racing. We got more of the former (bumps), a bit too much in fact with Hamilton's X44 car and Jenson Button's JBXE car getting no further than the 1st corner. Which meant less of the latter (racing) with just 2 cars completing the 1st lap, resulting in a red flag and just 2 cars racing it out for the win. It wasn't much of a race though with Rosberg's X Racer winning very easily to comfortably lead the championship.
Extreme E provide really good highlights on their YouTube channel so I won't describe it in great detail for you, it's worth a watch if you like your motorsports and haven't watched any of this series yet.
👇 Race Highlights from Extreme E's YouTube Channel
👇 Current Championship Standings
The next race is the Arctic X Prix in Greenland on the 28th (qualifying) & 29th (the good bit) August which in theory, should be awesome (and will hopefully be devoid of any sand). I confess to still being a little underwhelmed by the actual racing but with only 5 races in the season and the "higher purpose", I'm willing to give it a go for a bit longer.