One thing about Extreme E racing is that it’s never dull.
Drivers Inc.’s Tanner Foust and his partner, Emma Gilmour, experienced the full racing rollercoaster this weekend in Antofagasta, Chile, at the Copper X Prix.
Tanner and Emma seized an amazing opportunity by winning the Crazy Race, the last chance qualifier that advanced them to the final. Moreover, in the title race, he and Emma crossed the finish line first after an incredible last lap.
Then things got a little strange. As detailed by USA Today:
The four-lap contest on the 3.05km/1.9-mile course in the Antofagasta desert ended with confusion over the winner, with on-the road victors McLaren Racing subject to penalties for clipping track markers. There was the potential for a similar punishment for X44 too, but with that flag not falling entirely, stewards decided not to take action.
X44 was the early leader with Sebastien Loeb gapping the all-male starting field early on, but McLaren’s Tanner Foust soon closed that gap, sweeping by at the end of the second lap, just before the driver change.
After Cristina Gutierrez took over the X44 car from Loeb, she immediately utilized her “Hyperdrive” power boost to retake the lead from McLaren’s Emma Gilmour. Like her teammate though, Gilmour mounted a fightback and returned to first, at the same spot as Foust, on the final lap. But with Foust clipping a flag on her run, and Gilmour doing the same, McLaren was eventually classified fifth.
Afterward, Tanner summed up the weekend in his own words.