How Rosberg triumphed over Hamilton in 2021's final showdown

Did motorsport possess one last championship-deciding shock in 2021? That was the question at hand as Extreme E concluded its inaugural season at the Ministry of Defence-owned Bovington military base in Dorset, the replacement venue for an Argentine round cancelled by COVID-19.

A showdown for effective sister series Formula E had been largely determined by a startline shunt wiping out two of the chief title protagonists. The outcome of World Rallycross was skewed by a penalty, GTE Pro settled by a punt, the DTM resolved by audacious first-corner lunges. And then, of course, Formula 1 stole the turbulent show in Abu Dhabi.

The short answer last weekend was ‘not quite’. But Extreme E was all the better for it. The car unreliability that has dogged the first year of all-electric SUV off-road racing was, at last, all but eradicated for the Jurassic X-Prix. That allowed a straight fight for the crown, and Rosberg X Racing came out on top by the slimmest of margins.

The pre-event points leader converted its standings cushion into the glory but had to rely on countback to do so. As a result, the title came courtesy of its three wins earlier in the campaign as a last-ditch event victory finally arrived for X44 to draw it level on points at the muddy tank proving ground.

The sodden clay top layer – that despite the lack of rain, was kept moist by constant thick fog – created a much more forgiving surface to ease the strain on the car. Even if the inches-deep mud quickly covered up all the sponsor logos the championship has been quick to attract... The softer landings over the bumps, combined with new larger spherical joints and upgraded steering racks and toe links, meant the nine updated Odyssey 21s could begin to cash the cheques written by their brawny design.

Andretti United team boss Roger Griffiths gave this assessment on the much-needed upgrades: “They’re fairly straightforward, simplistic measures but should go a long way to fixing some of the problems. No one wants to see a final where only two cars [of five] are running by the end. The third-placed car shouldn’t just be the one that gets the furthest before it fails and with the quickest car broken at the side of the road.

Muddy conditions and beefed up cars made for improved reliability

Photo by: Charly Lopez / Motorsport Images

“I think [car constructor Spark Racing Technology] are taking it pretty seriously. It’s an improvement but it’s not night and day different. There are some more fundamental things they need to address on the car, and I know they are working on these for next season.”

Before then, Lewis Hamilton’s X44 crew maintained its 100% qualifying record from the five events on the calendar by topping the two sessions. Due to the limited daylight in the British winter, the opening shootout took place on Friday before the second on Saturday. Ahead of the first attempt, the team escaped a penalty for missing its allocated start time after a software upgrade caused its front invertor to malfunction and required a swap.

But with the replacement fitted, nine-time World Rally champion Sebastien Loeb – despite clattering over a large advertising sign – and team-mate Cristina Gutierrez topped both runs. In doing so, five bonus points were theirs as they tried to bridge the 16-point deficit to RXR. Its duo of Molly Taylor and Johan Kristoffersson were a subdued fourth in the overall times but had a clear directive to approach with caution and preserve the car to protect their advantage. Notably, this was by far the most competitive runout of the year as seconds rather than minutes covered the entire grid.

Both X44 and JBXE progressed into Sunday’s finale at the expense of Jamie Chadwick, who hopped aboard the ART Grand Prix-run Veloce machine – which gained a steer on set-up from a less busy Adrian Newey who was in attendance – and fell 4.9s adrift

X44 then booked its slot in the five-car finale by edging to victory in the first of the semi-finals. A new rules directive mandated all male drivers to take the race start, so Loeb was in the hotseat and lined up on the far-right side of the grid with the shortest run to the first corner.

While his initial launch was the strongest, Kevin Hansen in the JBXE machine enjoyed a formidable second phase. He waited for the sizeable Continental tyres to gain traction and then deployed the four-second 400kW hyperdrive boost to bully his way past Loeb. Hansen soon piled on the misery too, as he pulled out a remarkable 4s lead while third starter Lance Woolridge, replacing the ousted Stephane Sarrazin at Veloce Racing, spun.

The South African debutant rejoined some 10s down but tore chunks out of Loeb and Hansen to close the gap. As his wing mirrors became occupied, Loeb responded on lap two as he nailed the points-paying super sector, setting a mighty 49.506s (the best of the weekend) through the five waypoints, to reel in Hansen ahead of the driver swap. So much so that Loeb was less than a foot behind Hansen when he punched the speed limiter and cruised into the effective pitlane. Woolridge was right on the pair’s six and ready to pounce.

Gutierrez and Loeb were on formidable form for X44 and took victory, but it wasn't enough to deprive RXR of the title

Photo by: Charly Lopez / Motorsport Images

For the tighter confines of the half-size 2.36-mile Jurassic X-Prix lap, which created three-lap heats rather than two, a split pitlane was used to accommodate the nine bays. JBXE had to round a right-hander to resume and that, combined with a faster X44 switcheroo, created the first Extreme E change for position in the switch zone.

That meant Gutierrez emerged with a 1s lead over Hansen’s team-mate Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky as the JBXE driver lost a further 0.5s understeering through the quagmire. But once Ahlin-Kottulinsky cleared the boggiest section of the course, she charged after Gutierrez to cross the line just four tenths in arrears.

Both X44 and JBXE progressed into Sunday’s finale at the expense of Jamie Chadwick, who hopped aboard the ART Grand Prix-run Veloce machine – which gained a steer on set-up from a less busy Adrian Newey who was in attendance – and fell 4.9s adrift.

X44’s early success laid down the yardstick for RXR to match in its bid to seize the title as it lined up for the second semi. Kristoffersson launched superbly with hyperdrive to romp to an initial 2.3s lead as challengers Carlos Sainz Sr (Acciona Sainz) and Mattias Ekstrom (Abt Cupra) traded blows off the line. Sainz’s better launch forced Ekstrom to sit in his muddy rooster tails. But when the Spaniard accidentally caught the speed limiter and slowed, Ekstrom careered into his rear.

Ekstrom reached for his wipers and then for hyperdrive to attempt a pass on the inside, but Sainz shut the door before the Abt Cupra car vaulted into the air over the 5.4-metre ‘Knife Edge’ jump to shed its now loosened bonnet. Then the front invertor started to pack up as a legacy of the earlier collision and the Pure ETCR champion was left with rear-wheel-drive only.

That allowed Kristoffersson to finish his clean two-lap sprint with 3.8s in hand over Sainz before vacating the hot seat for Taylor. With Abt Cupra delaying its car at the driver swap to attempt to address the ailing drivetrain, before eventually releasing Jutta Kleinschmidt two minutes down, Taylor and Laia Sanz waltzed to the finish to reserve places in the final. This left one slot up for grabs, which went to Andretti United courtesy of Timmy Hansen and Catie Munnings coming out on top in the last-chance shootout on Saturday.

Taylor and Kristoffersson comfortably progressed through their semi-final after Sainz and Ekstrom contact left the latter with damage

Photo by: Charly Lopez / Motorsport Images

The ‘GridPlay’ popular vote rewarded effective polesitter and semi-final one winner X44 with the choice of starting slot, and Loeb and Gutierrez opted for the middle lane. RXR were one slot to the left and knew that fourth place would finish the job.

With females regulated to start for the climax, Gutierrez used hyperdrive to power ahead and decisively took the lead into the first corner as Taylor endured a sluggish opening stint.

Meanwhile, a lightening launch for JBXE’s Ahlin-Kottulinsky meant the car owned by Jenson Button peeled from the far-right side of the grid to demote Munnings for third. Ahlin-Kottulinsky then gave chase after Taylor, using hyperdrive to draw level with the Rosberg X Racing machine and slot into second place over the 23-degree ‘Knife Edge’ ramp.

"It would’ve been nice to be on the podium and we could’ve pushed for that. But we were trying to really make sure we could seal the championship by taking the minimum amount of risks" Molly Taylor

As Gutierrez disappeared into a 6.4s window for X44, RXR slipped back again as Munnings also relegated Taylor. That left Acciona Sainz’s Laia Sanz to take the title away from Nico Rosberg’s crew. Despite her vast improvement in time for the Jurassic X-Prix, Sanz wouldn’t play a factor as she spun to relieve the pressure on RXR. Taylor could close to her rivals too, as Munnings had to punch reverse after losing the rear end when she stamped on the brakes to avoid clattering into the JBXE car on the approach to the speed-limited driver swap zone.

Gutierrez ended her two-lap stint with 3.3s in hand over JBXE as she vacated the car for Loeb, and the spare-time orthodontist was only narrowly missed by a recovering Munnings. As the Greenland-winning Andretti United car headed for its pitlane slot, Gutierrez leapt out the way, but her seat cushion was still collected and dragged down the road.

Loeb belted aboard, waited for a jug of water to be thrown across the windscreen, and emerged with a 4.4s margin to JBXE to duly convert the victory. That, combined with the bonus five points for setting the fastest time of the round through the designated super sector and the season-long qualifying prowess, left X44 with 155 points.

Ahlin-Kottulinsky flew past Taylor, who was under orders to take it easy

Photo by: Colin McMaster / Motorsport Images

But Kristoffersson brought home the car, which was late to the grid after a last-minute front invertor swap, across the line 15s down. Crucially, though, he had settled in that sufficient fourth place to also complete a tally of 155 points. And so for the second time in 2021, the four-time World Rallycross champion relied on countback – thanks to victories in Saudi Arabia, Senegal and Sardinia – to settle the championship outcome in his and Dakar Rally-bound Taylor’s favour.

“It was pretty intense, but we knew what we had to do,” said Taylor when quizzed over RXR’s uncharacteristically reserved pace. “In one way, it would’ve been nice to be on the podium and we could’ve pushed for that. But we were trying to really make sure we could seal the championship by taking the minimum amount of risks.”

Team owner Rosberg added: “I’m so proud of our team. It’s been an intense season racing in some of the world’s most remote locations. This one is forever. Molly and Johan have been excellent all season and the whole team worked so hard for this title and did fantastic.”

And just for good measure, Kevin Hansen delivered second in the finale for JBXE to wrest third in the teams’ championship away from his brother Timmy Hansen and Munnings for Andretti United. Hamilton, Rosberg, Button – the three F1 champions Alejandro Agag had courted to his new disruptive series – finished 1-2-3 in the final teams’ table.

“That wasn’t on purpose, of course!” smiled Agag.

Kristoffersson, Rosberg and Taylor celebrate winning the title

Photo by: Colin McMaster / Motorsport Images