Fraser McConnell and reigning champion Christina Gutierrez took victory for X44 in Saturday’s grand final, after Andretti pair Catie Munnings and Timmy Hansen were given a penalty for exiting the switch zone too early.
Hansen arrived at the changeover with a seven-second lead, with Munnings maintaining that advantage on the second leg from Gutierrez. But a time penalty at the finish for leaving the switch zone fractionally too early demoted Andretti to second, denying British driver Munnings a home triumph.
Qualifying on day one was reduced to a single pair of heats after heavy fog led to the cancellation of the opening heats, while in a dramatic opening day both Acciona Sainz and Veloce, who took a win apiece at the season-opener in Saudi Arabia, missed out on the final.
Sainz struggled in its heat, which was led throughout by X44 ahead of Chip Ganassi Racing, while Andretti faced an anxious wait after missing out on an automatic final berth in third.
A broken upright put Veloce out of the subsequent heat, which was red-flagged after a huge roll for Abt Cupra’s Klara Andersson, who was squeezed into a hay bale but emerged unharmed.
Rosberg X Racing won the restarted contest ahead Carl Cox Motorsport, which was promoted to second at the finish after McLaren was penalised five seconds for being out of its bay in the switch zone. Andretti pipped McLaren to the last final spot by having a faster combined sector time in the traction challenge.
Andretti was handed first choice of grid spot for the final and opted to start on the favourable inside line for the approach to the opening corner. Hansen utilised that to snatch the lead for Andretti despite Johan Kristofferson’s attempts to sweep around the outside for RXR.
Arriving at the first corner in fifth, X44's McConnell used his hyperdrive boost perfectly on the exit to surge to the front but then ran wide and allowed Hansen to reclaim the advantage.
Contact between the pair pushed McConnell wide and down to third behind Kristofferson. But unsighted by a dirty windshield, Kristofferson drove into a wall and rolled off the course into retirement.
Andretti led home X44 but its post-race penalty demoted it back to second place to hand the win to the Hamilton-owed squad.
Carl Cox took a maiden podium finish in third with Timo Scheider and Christine Giampaoli Zonca, while an early puncture left Ganassi’s RJ Anderson and Amanda Sorensen a distant fourth.
Sainz prevailed in the Redemption Race, with Mattias Ekstrom and Laia Sanz coming home ahead of Veloce’s pairing.
