The first semi-final was as chaotic as what had come before, with Ganassi’s Sara Price – an outside title contender – losing control and spinning on the first jump before valiantly fighting back to bring the car into contention again by the time she handed over to debutant team-mate RJ Anderson.
Anderson managed to finish second whilst driving with his driver-side door missing – it had flung itself off mid-course – but was unable to pull out the gap needed to overcome the 10sec penalty as dust and mud flew into his cockpit, with ABT CUPRA’s Klara Andersson and Veloce’s Molly Taylor ultimately finishing first and second.
The next semi-final managed to provide just as much drama, with title-contender Laia Sanz flipping her Acciona Sainz in a double barrel roll before immediately hitting the accelerator as soon as the car landed on its wheels, and somehow dragging the car back into the race as broken parts of the car flew around her in the cockpit.
In the end, team-mate Carlos Sainz would ultimately fall short to the Andretti United of Katie Munnings and Timmy Hansen and the McLaren of Gilmour and Foust respectively, therefore eliminating another title contender.
After the almost non-stop drama and excitement, things then ramped up even further in the ‘Crazy Race’.
Loeb’s do-or-die effort in this round to get into the final came off in incredible fashion.
His co-driver Gutiérrez leapt into the lead whilst the RXR car fell victim to heavy contact from the JBXE of Fraser McConnell, leaving its steering broken.