Former RSEA Safety Motorsport Australia Rally Champion Molly Taylor has experienced a tough third outing in the Extreme E Series, finishing Greenland’s Arctic X-Prix in fifth place.
Heading into the third round of the season undefeated and on top of the standings, Taylor and teammate Johan Kristoffersson had a “rollercoaster” run of results throughout the weekend.
The Rosberg X Racing duo got off to a rocky start to the round when technical issues forced Kristoffersson to stop three times during the first qualifying session, before Taylor rolled in the same session.
Despite a tough opening-qualifying race, the duo then bounced back in style for the second qualifying race to take out a hard-earned victory.
The win put them right back into the contest and in third place on the grid ahead of the round’s feature final.
Starting off strong, the team managed to work its way towards the front and contend for the outright victory – which would have been their third straight for the year.
Unfortunately, they were unable to keep the momentum up as their car suffered a power issue and forced them to settle for fifth place outright.
Taking out the eventual win was Andretti United Extreme E’s Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen, while Swedes Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky and Kevin Hansen finished second ahead of World Rally Championship (WRC) legend Carlos Sainz and teammate Laia Sanz.
Although they finished the final fifth, Taylor and Kristoffersson remain on top of the standings after title rivals Cristina Gutiérrez and Sébastien Loeb didn’t make the final.
“Our comeback fight wasn’t to be,” Taylor said via social media.
“Unfortunately we had another power cut out whilst battling for the win in the final, leaving us in P5 in the end. It’s been a rollercoaster weekend in every sense but I’m proud of our pace and fight.
“It was also pretty cool to battle at the start with my childhood rally hero!! We still maintain the Championship lead and our eyes fully focused forward.”
While the next round of the Extreme E Series is the Island X-Prix on 23-24 October in Sardinia, Taylor will switch back to a rally car before then to run in the FIA World Rally Championship’s Rally Acropolis Greece.
Taking place in and around Athens, the event will see Taylor and co-driver Seb Marshal, along with the rest of the WRC take on dusty and fast mountain roads of the capital city.
The Acropolis Rally Greece takes place in Athens on 9-12 September.
