Taylor & Hansen – JBXE teammates for Extreme E Season 2 Championship opener
JBXE has announced that 2021 Extreme E Championship winner Molly Taylor will join Season 1 driver Kevin Hansen for Race 1 of Extreme E Season 2. Taylor brings invaluable expertise after claiming the Extreme E title with Rosberg X Racing (RXR) in the Championship’s inaugural season, and all the knowledge that comes with winning the series.
Molly Taylor, driver for JBXE, said: “I had an incredible year with Extreme E in 2021 and I believe wholeheartedly in what the competition represents both with respect to its commitment to sustainability and gender equality. Having had the benefit of a win in last year’s Championship, when the call came to join the JBXE team ahead of this weekend’s race, I thought why not. I’m looking forward to getting my teeth stuck into the Desert X-Prix this weekend.”
The team will be looking to build upon their performance on the unforgiving sands of last year’s inaugural race. After a shaky start at the Desert X Prix in AlUla, Saudi Arabia, last year, where the team finished third in the Crazy Race, Jenson Button’s JBXE outfit soared into the Final of the second X Prix in Senegal. Rear-wheel damage denied them the chance of achieving more than a third-place finish, but this would be the first of four podiums for the team.
The remaining three X Prix would see JBXE on the podium at each race, having transformed into masters of the Crazy Race in both Greenland and Sardinia. Second place finishes at the Arctic X Prix and the Jurassic X Prix, alongside third in Senegal and Sardinia, secured JBXE third in the overall Championship standings with 119 points.
Founded by 2009 Formula One World Champion Jenson Button, JBXE will be looking for more success in Extreme E Season 2.
Jenson Button, Founder of JBXE, added: “To be able to bring Molly into the team is fantastic news for JBXE. Having won the Championship last year she obviously brings a huge amount to the table so I’m incredibly excited to see her and Kevin in action this weekend.”
Taylor grew up in a motorsport family and excelled in national rally competitions, winning the F16 class in the Australian Rally Championship in 2007 and 2008 before moving abroad to follow her dream of becoming a professional rally driver. In 2013, Taylor’s success in the European Rally Championship elevated her to World Rally Rankings Number 1 International Female Rally Driver, before becoming the first female to achieve a podium position in Junior WRC history, finishing third in the 2014 Rally Finland.
Returning to Australia in 2015, Taylor finished second in the Australian Rally Championship before going one better with Subaru in 2016. Following her first taste of the desert in the inaugural Extreme E season, this year saw Taylor make her debut in the Dakar Rally. With this new experience and the first Extreme E title under her belt, Taylor lines up to make a big impact on JBXE’s second season.
Kevin Hansen, driver for JBXE, said: “I’m very excited to work with Molly. She did great last year and was one of the best out on track. You don’t become Champion for nothing!
“She has a lot of experience now in Saudi from the Dakar Rally this year, so I will take a lot of advantage from that. It was an amazing experience that she had there and now she can share that with me. It’s going to be very fun to work with her this weekend.”
Prior to Extreme E, Hansen has been a fixture in the FIA World Rallycross Championship for several years, securing event wins and multiple podiums for Team Peugeot-Hansen. He has a strong rallycross pedigree in his family from his father Kenneth Hansen – so it is no surprise he has had so much success.
Earlier in his career, the 22-year-old Swedish racer secured the 2015 RX2 title and won the 2016 FIA Rookie of the Year award for best up-and-coming driver across the governing body’s Championships following his FIA European Rallycross Championship win that year – the youngest driver ever to do so.
The fresh JBXE driver line-up is all set to take on the first race of the season in NEOM, Saudi Arabia, this weekend (19-20 February).
