Grids? I thought this was going to be rally raid like Dakar, but with electric cars. I'm so confused now, so it will be races on a track?

An Extreme E race weekend consists of five rounds: Two qualifying rounds on Saturday, then two semi-finals and the final on Sunday. The qualifying rounds consist of two races of four cars each (8 cars compete in the race weekend), with points awarded based on finishing position. The four cars scoring the most points proceed to semi-final 1, the bottom four proceed to semi-final 2 (called "crazy race"). Semi-final rounds are one race each. The top three cars from SF1, and the top car from SF2, proceed to the final.[14]

In each race the car must complete two laps of the course, with each team member driving one lap and co-driving the other lap. Teams must have one male and one female driver, who will perform the same driving and co-driving duties, promoting gender equality and a level playing field amongst competitors.

Excessive dust in the Saudi Arabian desert has led Extreme E to alter the format of its qualifying heats and finals only two days ahead of the championship’s inaugural round.

Multi-car qualifying races for the Desert X-Prix event in AlUla have been replaced by single-car time trials on the Saturday.

Each driver pairing will complete one morning run and one afternoon run and have their average lap time taken to decide the grid for the semi-finals.

The choice of starting order for these qualification time trials will still be based on a lottery draw.

The grids for the semi-finals and final on Sunday have now been capped at three entries in favour of the previous plan to have the nine teams compete over one five-car and a four-car run.

This is largely out of concern for safety, due to narrower track confines for the five-mile circuit and the increased levels of dust kicked up by the cars compared to the initial Saudi recce in January.

Big rolls for Sarrazin and Hurtgen during qualifying (42:55 and 1:22.25)