Motorsport can be extremely unforgiving, especially in off-road settings. Rally drivers are no strangers to tumbles, and Extreme E is keeping that tradition alive with yet another gnarly roll at the Island X Prix, held in Sardinia, Italy.
Driver Stéphane Sarrazin rolled Veloce Racing’s Odyssey 21, in what Dirtfish called “Extreme E’s biggest crash so far.” The rollover ended in a DNF for the team, but the good news is that Sarrazin is OK. The BEV was not so fortunate.
Technical details of the damage were scarce, but since the BEVs run twin 250kW motors (one on each axle), it’s possible that the drivetrain was damaged. The 40kWh battery is nestled in the rear, placed slightly forward of the motor that powers the back wheels.
Crash footage shows the rear outer shell and axle get absolutely shredded as the machine rolls in midair multiple times, and one of its rear tires narrowly avoids hitting the EV after being torn away from the suspension.
The Veloce driver said the crash came after overtaking Xite Energy’s Christine Giampaoli Zonca:
I was waiting to overtake Christine and when I overtook her I started to push, I carried my speed and they were giving me the time difference and I was catching the car so I was pushing.
I was pushing but what can I do? This jump, yesterday I didn’t have any problem on this one. Maybe I arrived at 10kph [6.2mph] quicker and I completely flew.
Sarrazin also explained the rollover possibly happened not only because of his increased speed, but because he took a different approach to the jump.
From Sarrazin’s post-race statement:
I attacked one of the compressions straight instead of side on and unfortunately the car rolled.
Veloce Racing will have until the next event on the calendar, the Jurassic X Prix, to rebuild their machine. That race is set to run on December 18 in the UK. According to Veloce, work is already underway to get their BEV up and running.
