Finale of a season with ups and downs: This weekend, ABT CUPRA XE will start in Punta del Este (Uruguay) for the last race of the second Extreme E season. As was the case last time out in Chile, 22-year-old Swede Klara Andersson will compete alongside Nasser Al-Attiyah in the CUPRA Tavascan XE. A new feature of the season finale: For the first time, up to 10,000 fans will be at the track.
“Punta is a great location for the finale – especially because we will even have fans there for the first time,” says ABT CEO Thomas Biermaier. “In sporting terms, we want to end this season on a high and take a sense of achievement into the short winter break. A place on the podium and fighting for victory is our goal for Uruguay.”
The so-called Energy X Prix will be held on a course about a 20-minute drive northeast of downtown Punta del Este. The surface is a mixture of grass and gravel, and it can quickly become muddy when it rains. Only a road separates the track and the paddock from the kilometre-long beach.
In Extreme E, ten teams – including the teams of former Formula 1 world champions Lewis Hamilton and Nico Rosberg – battle to win the championship. In each case, a woman and a man take turns at the wheel. After the season opener in Saudi Arabia in February, two races in July on Sardinia and the debut in Chile’s Atacama Desert in September, Uruguay will be the venue for the finale.
ABT Sportsline has good memories of Punta del Este: ABT driver Lucas di Grassi has already stood on the podium there during the early years of Formula E. The backdrop of the coastal town with its rough surf, which is popular with tourists throughout South America, is unique. An additional highlight: on the Thursday before the race, all ten teams drive through the town in their race cars to promote the weekend’s event and Extreme E.