Challenging race for Lola Yamaha ABT under the lights in Jeddah

Lola Yamaha ABT failed to score points under the lights in Jeddah but will come back stronger for the second race tomorrow.

Although Lucas qualified in P9 and Zane in P10 in their respective groups, both cars showed promising pace. Following Lucas’ 3-place grid penalty from Miami, he lined up in P20 on the grid with Zane just ahead in P19. Zane got a strong start in the race, making up two places off the line and a further four places in the first few corners. Unfortunately, damage suffered during a collision with Pepe Marti (Cupra Kiro) meant he was forced to retire from the race.

Despite finishing in P16, Lucas showed positive pace and energy management in the race, with the team coming together to deliver a strong race operationally.

Lucas di Grassi, #11: “It was a tough race today but we managed to do the best we could. Although we finished 16th and didn’t score any points, we were very close to the pack. The pace was good and we managed to fight with some Porsches in the race, which for us was a good reference. We will analyse the data and try to take everything we’ve learned today to ensure we improve the car for tomorrow when we go again.”

Zane Maloney, #22: “Unfortunately the race only lasted three corners for us but in those three corners we made up six places so were off to a very good start. I’m looking forward to tomorrow as we were quite quick today in qualifying and were a tenth from the duels. We will be making small tweaks for tomorrow to try to come back stronger and hopefully have a good qualifying so we can try to stay out of the chaos in the race at least for the first lap.”

Mark Preston, Team Principal, Lola Yamaha ABT, said: “After a great start from Zane it was a shame that he had a coming together with Marti and was taken out of the race, especially as he showed good pace in qualifying. Although Lucas didn’t finish in the points, the team did an excellent job meaning he had a near perfect race operationally. With another race to come tomorrow, we have another opportunity to hopefully score some points here in Jeddah.”

The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship continues tomorrow in Jeddah , with qualifying at 15:40 local time (12:40 UTC) and the race at 20:05 local time (17:05 UTC). Find out where to watch the action where you are here.