Team Hansen triumphs in final Extreme E showdown in Qiddiya City
Team Hansen closed out Extreme E’s five-year chapter in style, winning the final-ever race of the all-electric off-road championship at Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia.
Drivers Andreas Bakkerud and Catie Munnings delivered a composed yet thrilling performance to secure victory in the Desert X Prix Race 2 – The Final Lap, defeating home favourites Jameel Motorsport, represented by Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor.
The result made it two new winning teams in as many days in Qiddiya, while Munnings celebrated her first win since the Arctic X Prix in Season 1, and Bakkerud became both the first Norwegian and the final first-time race winner in Extreme E history.
Redemption Race: JBX claim dominant victory
In the Redemption Race, JBX Powered by Team Monaco’s duo Tommi Hallman and Christine GZ prevailed after a tight early battle with STARD’s Patrick O’Donovan and Amanda Sorensen.
JBX seized control midway through lap one and never looked back, crossing the line 8.730 seconds clear — a margin later extended to 23.730 seconds after a post-race penalty for Carl Cox Motorsport for a Switch Zone infringement.
STARD completed the podium, while ACCIONA | SAINZ XE TEAM’s Fraser McConnell and Laia Sanz failed to start after a heavy qualifying crash.
High drama in all-female Final start
The Final began with an all-female grid — Taylor (Jameel Motorsport), Munnings (Team Hansen), Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky (Team KMS), and Hedda Hosås (Team EVEN).
Taylor launched strongly from the outside line to seize the early lead, but chaos unfolded behind her as the two Swedish teams — KMS and EVEN — clashed at the first corner. Both cars were eliminated, with Åhlin-Kottulinsky’s vehicle rolling over, though she escaped uninjured.
That left Taylor and Munnings in a two-way duel for the lead, with the gap narrowing to just over one second by the mid-race Switch Zone.
After the driver change, Kevin Hansen took over for Jameel Motorsport and Bakkerud for Team Hansen. Both were caught out by a Slow Zone introduced due to the earlier crash, leading to post-race penalties for overspeeding.
Despite Kevin Hansen initially crossing the line 7.291 seconds ahead, Jameel Motorsport’s larger penalty for its infraction dropped it to second place, handing Team Hansen the victory.
KMS was classified third, having made marginally more progress before its retirement than EVEN, which was also penalised for causing their first-lap collision.
The result carried historical symmetry: Catie Munnings and Molly Taylor, podium finishers in Extreme E’s debut race in Al-‘Ula in 2021, stood on the podium again in its finale — but in reversed positions.
Åhlin-Kottulinsky, despite her early exit, extended her record as the most decorated driver in Extreme E history with the highest number of podiums.
As the sun set on the series, organisers confirmed Extreme E’s next evolution — the FIA Extreme H World Cup, the world’s first hydrogen-powered off-road championship, which will launch on Thursday, 9 October.
“This feels like a fitting conclusion to an extraordinary journey for Extreme E,” said series insiders. “We’ve seen innovation, gender equality, and environmental awareness take centre stage — and now hydrogen is the next frontier.”
Extreme E’s swansong at Qiddiya symbolised the close of one pioneering experiment and the beginning of another. As the series transitions to hydrogen propulsion under the FIA banner, teams, sponsors and fans alike will be watching to see whether Extreme H can carry the torch for sustainable motorsport innovation.
For Team Hansen, victory in Saudi Arabia provides the perfect send-off — one last triumph to cap off five seasons of fast, fierce, and forward-thinking racing.
