Team STARD resists Jameel Motorsport charge to win Head-to-Head competition
Team STARD’s Patrick O’Donovan and Amanda Sorensen prevailed in a tense Head-to-Head Final, beating Kevin Hansen and Molly Taylor of Jameel Motorsport by just 0.082 to take the medal on the second day of the FIA Extreme H World Cup.
For Day 2 of the FIA Extreme H World Cup, teams competed in a Head-To-Head contest: a 532-metre dash, beginning with a steep drop, followed by a technical chicane and jumps, challenging drivers’ reaction times and precision.
STARD’s Final victory came after Sorensen made a marginally better start, only for Taylor to recover time at the chicane. The two then headed to the finish line side-by-side, with the STARD car just edging it.
It ended an unbeaten run throughout the day for Jameel, who saw off JBX and ZEROID Motorsport in their first two heats, while a third round match-up with eventual final opponents STARD was taken by Kevin Hansen.
A final Heat win came against Team Hansen, with Taylor seeing off Andreas Bakkerud in the closest race of the day – just 0.038s separated the pair at the line – with Molly having had the better reaction at the start. Kevin Hansen then defeated Carl Cox Motorsport's Timo Scheider in their Semi-Final to set up the rematch with STARD in the Final.
STARD's day began with a race against Carl Cox, with O'Donovan beating Scheider by a slender margin, but the German getting a penalty for hitting a track marker. Next up Amanda Sorensen beat Team EVEN's Hedda Hosås, and then Team KMS's Mikaela Ahlin-Kottulinsky in their final Heat after the loss to Jameel.
Patrick O’Donovan, driver for Team STARD, said: “Absolutely amazing. A roller coaster of emotions kind of day. We started off pretty strong, I got some great results and then in the final Amanda had an absolutely amazing race with Molly (Taylor).
“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! Everyone in Team STARD did an amazing job and I’m pretty happy with my own performance. They are a brand new team coming in, it's a huge learning curve, but as you can see, they are taking to it like a duck to water.”
Amanda Sorensen, driver for Team STARD, said: “Yesterday we didn't have the greatest day, so we knew today we had to put our heads down and really come in super strong. It was such a close call going to the finals, but I knew we had to keep it nice and tidy, no big risks.
“So super excited about the finish, and I'm hoping for all the best going into tomorrow’s eight-car final in the FIA Extreme H World Cup.”
While it lost out in the Final, Jameel took the most World Cup Qualifying Points away from the day thanks to the two bonus points it received for setting the combined best time of both of its drivers from the day.
That moves the team up to first in the provisional standings, with Team Hansen also bumping up from third to second. The biggest casualty of the day was KMS which lost its lead in the World Cup Qualifying Points standings, slipping to third after winning only once in the Heat stage of the Head-to-Heads and failing to advance to the knockout rounds.
Kevin Hansen, driver for Jameel Motorsport, said: “Obviously, just shy of winning again. Yesterday was eight tenths, today was eight hundredths. Maybe tomorrow at the end of the final, we can be eight of something ahead.
“So if it feels good to have the points lead at the moment, that’s what counts towards the World Cup start grid. So we’re pleased, the car feels great, we’re very confident. Now it's one beautiful day left and we’ll go and try to wrap it up.”
Molly Taylor, driver for Jameel Motorsport, said: “It's been a really solid day for us. I think we executed everything really well. The final was super tight. It was so close in the end, but in any case, some really solid points, and some solid points yesterday.
“Looking at the bigger picture, we’re in a good position for tomorrow. There’s a huge amount of points on the line for tomorrow as well, so we’re just trying to execute the best we can in every stage of the World Cup, so we can hopefully be in a good position for the final.”
The FIA Extreme H World Cup concludes tomorrow, 10 October, with four Multi-Car races, followed by an eight-car World Cup Final race to determine the overall winner of the event.
To watch the action, click here for information on timings and broadcasters in your local territory. To catch up on everything so far, click here.