Extreme H results: Team STARD beat Jameel Motorsport in razor-thin head-to-head on day two
Team STARD’s Patrick O’Donovan and Amanda Sorensen clinched victory in Friday’s Head-to-Head showdown at the FIA Extreme H World Cup, beating Jameel Motorsport’s Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor by just 0.082 seconds – the narrowest winning margin of the series so far.
Side-by-side to the finish
The pair went wheel-to-wheel through the 532-metre sprint course in Qiddiya City, Saudi Arabia – a steep drop, tight chicane and a pair of jumps testing both reflexes and nerve.
Sorensen made the sharper getaway, but Taylor clawed back time through the chicane to set up a drag race to the line, with STARD’s Pioneer 25 hydrogen racer nosing ahead by fractions of a second.
It marked redemption for Sorensen and O’Donovan after a tough opening day, and the first win for the Austrian team in the hydrogen-powered championship’s debut weekend.
“It was epic, they were neck and neck – until I actually saw the graphic come up on the TV screen, I had no idea who won,” said O’Donovan. “They are a brand-new team coming in, it’s a huge learning curve, but as you can see, they’re taking to it like a duck to water.”
Sorensen added: “Yesterday we didn’t have the greatest day, so we knew we had to come in super strong. It was such a close call going to the finals, but I knew we had to keep it tidy and not take big risks.”
Jameel stays top on points
Jameel Motorsport fell just short of another win, but the Saudi team still leads the provisional standings thanks to bonus points for the fastest combined driver time of the day.
Their performance – including wins over JBX, ZEROID and Team Hansen – keeps them ahead of Team Hansen and KMS, the latter dropping from first to third after an early exit in the knockout rounds.
“Obviously, just shy of winning again,” said Hansen. “Yesterday was eight-tenths, today eight-hundredths. Maybe tomorrow we’ll finally be eight of something ahead.”
Taylor added: “It’s been a really solid day for us. The final was super tight, but we’ve got good points on the board and we’re in a strong position for tomorrow’s final.”
One more race to crown hydrogen’s first world champions
Saturday brings the climax of four multi-car heats followed by the eight-car World Cup Final – the first time hydrogen racing will decide a world title.
The event closes Extreme H’s debut weekend – the series’ transition from battery to hydrogen propulsion in collaboration with the FIA.
The cars, each powered by a 400 kW hydrogen fuel-cell system produce nothing but water vapour – but the racing, as Friday proved, is anything but clean.
