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The ABT Motorsport Weeks are entering the next round: After the weekend with Formula E in Monaco, ABT and its partner CUPRA will start at Extreme E in Scotland this weekend (13 and 14 May) with Klara Andersson and Nasser Al-Attiyah in the CUPRA Tavascan XE. After that, the crew will continue in a weekly cycle with their comeback at the 24-hour race at the Nürburgring and finally with the start of the new DTM season on the last weekend in May at Oschersleben.
Rounds three and four of the current season will be held at the Hydro X Prix at the former Glenmuckloch open pit mine in the area between Glasgow and Dumfries. The restored former open cast coal mine, which is now being converted into a Pumped Storage Hydropower (PSH) plant and wind farm, provides the spectacular backdrop. After a chaotic start in Saudi Arabia with a rollover by Al-Attiyah and a race to catch up almost to the podium, ABT CUPRA is hoping for two smooth days of racing against the spectacular backdrop of Scotland.
Martin Tomczyk will experience his premiere as ABT Motorsport Director at a race event in Scotland. “I have been following the championship on TV since it started and am now looking forward to being live on site for the first time,” says Tomczyk. “At the season opener, the team made the best of a difficult situation with a bold strategy. In Scotland, we want to prove our performance as a team and that of our driver pairing once again, because our goal is clearly to be on the podium. Preferably at the top, of course.”
The race days on Saturday and Sunday will each start at 7:30 a.m. local time (8:30 a.m. CET) with qualifying, followed by the two final races from 2:15 p.m. (3:15 p.m. CET). In Scotland, CUPRA will be showing the brand’s just presented all-electric SUV, the CUPRA Tavascan. In addition, ABT’s long-time partner has invited media representatives from numerous countries. A list of all stations broadcasting the season opener can be found here: www.extreme-e.com.
Klara Andersson: “Location looks impressive”
Klara Andersson can hardly wait to return to “her” race car. Most recently, she cheered on her team at the Formula E home race in Berlin, and now she’s back competing for trophies herself. “I’m really looking forward to finally getting back into the race with Nasser. After the somewhat crazy weekend in Saudi Arabia, we still have a score to settle, and we want to settle it quickly.” Like for most drivers, Scotland is new territory from a motorsport perspective for the 23-year-old Swede: “The location already looks impressive in photos and videos. After the dunes in NEOM, now gravel and sand – that will definitely be exciting.”
Nasser Al-Attiyah: “It’s going to be tough”
Nasser Al-Attiyah comes to Scotland smelling of champagne: the five-time and current Dakar winner has just won the World Rally Raid round in Mexico. “It’s always nice to come to a race in a positive mood – but of course Extreme E is a completely different story,” says the Qatari. “On the firmer surface, it’s going to be tough going. But we’ve known since the opener at the latest that we have the team and the car to be up front. That’s exactly our goal for Scotland.”
New 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, 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-place team voting first.
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