Former Formula 1 driver Nico Rosberg is quite accustomed to going quickly, but if you take him off the grippy tarmac that he masters, he admits it’s a totally different type of driving. He recently drove one of his Extreme E racing team’s off-road EVs for the very first time, and he was also taken for a ride as a passenger with an actual pro off-road racer at the wheel.
Nico first drives the Rosberg X Racing Extreme E off-roader on his own, noting how much grip the vehicle has, even with his lack of experience behind the wheel – this was the first time he ever drove an Extreme E racer, so it was a new vehicle in a new environment. He also notes that the amount of arm twirling needed to keep it pointing in the right direction was tiring even after his short lap of the Nurburgring off-road track.
When Nico stepped into the passenger’s seat, with experienced rally driver Johan Kristoffersson (and first ever Extreme E Champion) behind the wheel, he realized just what the off-road racing vehicle can do. The impressive levels of grip that he noticed during his own drive were exceeded with Kristoffersson at the helm and this made Nico quite scared, as he told the driver on several occasions to slow down…
Extreme E is in its second season in 2022, with 9 teams starting out and a total of 18 drivers, 2 for each team – one of the new teams joining the series this year was McLaren. All vehicles taking part in the competition are the same, built by Spark Racing Technology in France (the company that also makes the vehicles for Formula E) and they all have the same tires (which Nico shows off in the video) supplied by Continental.
