Team KMS opens Extreme H Saudi weekend with Time Trial win

Team KMS’ Johan Kristofferson and Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky began the inaugural FIA Extreme H World Cup by claiming victory in the Time Trial element of the competition in Qiddiya City in Saudi Arabia.

The team topped both the morning and afternoon sessions, with the results being a combination of both drivers’ cumulative times from both sessions together, beating Jameel Motorsport’s Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor, and Team Hansen’s Andreas Bakkerud and Catie Munnings.

The morning’s running order was decided randomly, but in the afternoon cars went out in the reverse of their morning standing. As pacesetters in the first session, having beaten Jameel by a narrow 0.139s, KMS went out last. Team Hansen and Jameel preceded them, with the latter moving into a position to have a realistic chance at toppling KMS after a strong lap from Kevin Hansen.

When KMS took to the track, Ahlin-Kottulinksy ran deep at Gate 15, but the cost time was negated when Kristoffersson took the wheel after the mid-race driver switch. He gained massively in the first corner and, despite a wobble in the middle of the lap – where he clipped a bank on the exit of the turn at Gate 10 and clipping and over-rotating at Gate 15 – he put the team 0.452s quicker than Jameel for the session and 0.591s quicker across the full day.

Behind the top trio of KMS, Jameel, and Team Hansen – whose hopes of victory were derailed by an understeer moment for Munnings at Gate 15 – the Team EVEN’s Ole Christian Veiby and Hedda Hosås wound up fourth, less than a second off the top three when overall times for the day were combined, while JBX’s Tommi Hallman and Christine GZ were fifth. The team would’ve been fastest in the morning, the session where Hallman set the fastest single-lap time of the day, but got a five-second penalty when Christine GZ knocked down a chevron marker on track.

Carl Cox Motorsport’s Timo Scheider and Klara Andersson were sixth sustaining a puncture in the morning session and a five-second penalty in the afternoon when Andersson also dropped a chevron marker onto the course.

ZEROID Motorsport’s Fraser McConnell and Gray Leadbetter ended the day seventh after battling sensor issues in the morning before being hit with a 14-second penalty in the afternoon for speeding in the Switch Zone.

The times were completed by the STARD duo of Patrick O’Donovan and Amanda Sorensen, who were on the back foot from early on after suffering a rear motor inverter failure during their first lap of the day.

After the first day of competition, KMS has taken an early lead in the World Cup qualifying points standings, with teams scoring across the three days and disciplines – Time Trial, Head-to-Head, and Multi-Car Racing – and the ranking of which determining the starting grid for Saturday’s eight-car World Cup Final.

The FIA Extreme H World Cup continues on Friday with a head-to-head contest on a 532-meter/1745-ft course featuring a steep drop at the start, a large jump, and a tight chicane.

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