Smooth start at Diriyah as NIO 333 FE Team starts its new chapter
NIO 333 FE team starts a new era of the team with a Double-Finish in the 2019/20 ABB FIA Formula E Championship season opening Diriyah ePrix in Saudi Arabia.
The team showed some potential in speed during qualifying which saw Oliver Turvey starting from P10. However, the race was ultimately proven to be difficult and the British driver finished P15 at the chequered flag.
At the start of the race, the experienced British remained in the P10 after a relatively calm opening period of the race. With the effect of the “Attack Mode” and the lack of grip off racing line, the close midfield fight resulted in a shuttle of the positions. Finally, Turvey finished the race in the P15.
Team-mate Qinghua Ma encountered a quiet race as the only Chinese driver on the grid settles himself into the new era of Formula E. After a tough start of the day with only 2 laps in the free practice sessions, the Chinese driver finished P20 after starting from P22 on the grid. As a “rookie” of the Gen 2 Formula E car, Ma’s target was to familiarize the ever-closer battle of Formula E and finishing the race fulfils the goal.
The team won’t get much rest after the opening round as the double header opening weekend means the team have another chance to prove its performance in the world’s premier electric motorsport series.
Oliver Turvey, #3
“First, we had a smooth day with the condition, but we managed to build up and improve in both of the practice sessions. In qualifying I managed to do my best lap of the day to qualify P10. Considering where we were in Valencia, I think it is a great result. I had a pretty good start considering I was on the dirty side of the grid, managed to hold P10 for the first couple of laps. It was tough with energy out there, the guys around us were super quick. I tried to hold the position. But, in the end, we over-consumed the energy. I tried not to make any mistakes and unfortunately got overtaken. We learnt a lot in the race. There were a lot to learn in the race and a lot to improve. We had a smooth race to finish, the race was a good result for the team. Thanks for the team, for their hard work in the last couple of months, there has been a lot of changes. We will keep trying and keep improving into the next few races.”
Ma Qing Hua, #33
“The first day of the season is quite tough, the track condition in the morning was difficult and just letting another car through resulted a contact with the wall so I only had 2 laps before the qualifying. During the race I was trying to find the limit in every corner, and I can see my confidence level rise as the race went on. After the opening race I am happy to see the car is reliable which is important to the team and we look forward to applying today’s experience into tomorrow.”
Source | Photo: NIO 333 FE Team
