(Reuters) -Australian Molly Taylor and Sweden's Kevin Hansen were crowned champions of the inaugural hydrogen-powered Extreme H World Cup in Saudi Arabia on Saturday.
The pair, driving for the Saudi-owned Jameel Motorsport team, dominated an eight-car final in Qiddiya after three days of competition in the world's first FIA-sanctioned hydrogen motorsport event.
Hansen said it was probably the biggest achievement of his career.
“It feels amazing. I never felt that much pressure before a race: standing on pole, for a Saudi team, for one race, winner takes it all. But it felt so good to do a great start, great first run, pull a good gap, five seconds, and Molly brought it home perfectly," he said.
The pair led the qualifying points standings, giving them choice of grid position. Taylor, driving the second leg, brought the car home 7.068 seconds clear of Swede Klara Andersson for the Carl Cox team with German veteran Timo Scheider.
Norwegians Christian Veiby and Hedda Hosas were third for Team EVEN.
“It’s been a pretty emotional day. It’s been such an intense week, particularly the last three days," said Taylor, who rolled her car earlier in the week.
Extreme H is an evolution of the Extreme E series, which promoted sustainability and electric vehicles by racing SUVs in harsh areas already suffering environmental damage and held its last race the previous weekend.
The new format, with Pioneer 25 cars using hydrogen fuel cells, featured rally-style races against the clock as well as driver head-to-heads.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London; Editing by Ken Ferris)
