Diriyah Race 2 Report s8
It was a challenging final day for the NIO 333 Formula E Team at the conclusion of the opening event of the 2021/2022 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Diriyah.
Both Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum extracted as much performance from the NIO 333 001 race cars as possible this weekend, leaving the Silverstone-based team with much work to do over the coming two weeks before the all-electric racing series heads to Mexico City.
Oliver Turvey, NIO 333 FE 001 #3
Qualifying Group A – Race Grid Position: P17
Round 1, Race 1 Result: Provisional P18 (after post-race penalties applied)
“I feel that we made some improvements from yesterday. My first run in qualifying today was P4, and in the second run I felt that I got a good, clean lap, but ended up with a similar gap to what we’ve had all weekend. We had a good start to the race and I managed to pick up a couple of positions in to turn 1 and then fought hard, trying to maximise what we had. We got the most out of the car, but we still need to be a bit quicker and work on our pace for Mexico.”
Dan Ticktum, NIO 333 FE 001 #33
Qualifying Group B – Race Grid Position: P18
Round 1, Race 1 Result: Provisional P19 (after post-race penalties applied)
“Overall, it was a hard weekend. I felt that yesterday we were a bit stronger in qualy and the race, but today we struggled more. I know that everyone in the team is working extremely hard and with the resources we have we’re fighting and doing what we can. We will continue to work on optimising our performance and hopefully we can go forward in Mexico.”
Russell O’Hagan, Deputy Team Principal, NIO 333 Formula E Team
“Today was a very challenging day. We made some positive steps with the car balance, but we failed to progress as much as our rivals. We don’t yet understand exactly why, but we will. We have a few days to digest all of the information from this weekend and to start preparing for Mexico, which we are already looking forward to. I would like to thank the team and drivers for their ongoing dedication, especially this week. It’s been great to be a part of it and it will pay off soon.”
The NIO 333 Formula E Team will head to Mexico City for Round 3 of the 2021/2022 FIA World Formula E Championship on 12th February.
