Hansen Vs Hansen? | Extreme E 2022 | Motorsport | Is It Fast

The inaugural season of Extreme E in 2021 treated us to an incredibly close Championship battle. Lewis Hamilton’s X44 and Nico Rosberg’s Rosberg X Racing reignited the old Formula 1 rivalry and saw both teams battle it out for glory right until the final race of the season.

When the curtain fell on the season, both teams were on equal points and the Championship was actually decided on countback – thus delivering it to Rosberg X Racing. Now with the 2022 season just around the corner, speculation is growing about how close the title fight will be this time around.

Image: Extreme E Media Centre

There’s no reason to think that X44 and Rosberg X Racing wouldn’t be in the hunt for the Championship again this year, but might there be at least two other teams that stand a reasonable chance of upsetting the apple cart?

Both Andretti United and JBXE had strong 2021 seasons, duking it out for the best of the rest spot in the Championship by the end of the season.

With such solid foundations in year one of Extreme E – three podiums including one win for Andretti United and four podiums but no wins for JBXE – the duo will be looking to build on that in 2022, which means even more time for both on the podium potentially.

But what makes the rivalry between these two teams even more interesting is that there’s also a familial sibling rivalry at play.

Timmy Hansen races for Andretti United whilst his brother Kevin competes for JBXE.

At the time of writing, the Extreme E driver market is still a bit in flux.

Timmy was confirmed to stay with Andretti for 2022 way back in 2021 alongside the powerhouse racing driver that is Catie Munnings.

Image: Extreme E Media Centre

But for Kevin, it’s still all up in the air. JBXE are expected to return for 2022 but we don’t know this for certain yet.

What’s more is that his teammate and partner in crime from 2021, Mikaela Åhlin-Kottulinsky has jumped ship to replace Molly Taylor over at Rosberg X Racing.

That isn’t to say that it will be difficult to find a replacement.

The easiest solution theoretically would be for Taylor to join the team.

But Tamara Molinaro could step up from her reserve duties or rookie driver Hedda Hosas who took part in the rookie trials back in Sardinia last year could also graduate to a full-time position.

Regardless of who replaces Mikaela though, logic dictates that Andretti United would be the stronger team simply because of consistency, the trust and relationship between Catie and Timmy and the certainty that they will line up on the grid for the start of the season in Saudi Arabia.

That being said, everyone loves an underdog story and that seemed to be exactly what JBXE was last year.

Image: Extreme E Media Centre

After a shaky start to the season, Mikaela improved ten-fold over each race event and Kevin proved he could help propel the team forwards in the Championship too. Such was their success that they managed to pip Andretti United to third place in the Championship by just two points in the final race of the year.

So whilst the majority of eyes may be on the big guns of Rosberg X Racing and X44, it’d be silly to count out JBXE and Andretti United.

Even if neither one of them actually won the title, it would still be awesome to see them in that fight and potentially helping or hindering whichever other team did end up on top.

All that we know for certain is that after a crazy first season of Extreme E, Season II of the off-road electric motorsport looks set to be even more electrifying. Think Terminator 2 in terms of sequel power. Bigger, better and way more action. I can’t wait.

Author: Thiemo Albers-Daly