Despite technical issues and a challenging weekend, Lola Yamaha ABT leaves Brazil with its first point of the season and a much more competitive package than this time last year.
With FP1 cancelled on Friday due to technical difficulties with radio communications, the free practice session planned for Saturday morning was extended by 20 minutes. The reduced running time impacted the team’s ability to test setups as planned and it was a difficult start to the day for the team. This then continued when both cars suffered front driveshaft failures in qualifying which led to Zane and Lucas each retiring from their sessions and starting 19th and 20th respectively on the grid.
When it came to the race, Lucas took an early Attack Mode and worked his way up to P7. However, a collision with Mahindra Racing’s Edoardo Mortara led to him retiring from the race. Zane took his first Attack Mode towards the middle of the race, then focused on cooling and energy management. When taking his second Attack Mode towards the end of the race, a red flag following Pepe Marti’s crash meant he lost the rest of his period of increased power. Following the restart, Zane still managed to cross the line in P11, with a penalty meaning he ultimately finished in P10 scoring his first points in Formula E.
Lucas di Grassi, #11: “The first round of Season 12 here in Brazil has not been as we expected with problems in FP2 meaning we only did a few laps and in qualifying we had a front driveshaft issue which put us last on the grid. From last we did a very good first half of the race, coming from 20th all the way to 7th. Then in the second Attack Mode a bad decision from another driver cost us the race and we were obliged to retire but we will come back stronger in Mexico. ”
Zane Maloney, #22: “It’s been a very chaotic day. We had a front driveshaft problem with both cars in qualifying which was very unfortunate as I think the pace was going to be quite good but we had to start at the back and split the strategies. Unfortunately, Lucas didn’t finish the race and we had some procedural issues on our side, however, the pace of the car was a step forward from last year and I think we can be optimistic for the future. I’m pleased to have scored my first point in Formula E but of course I’m looking for a lot more than that so we will keep pushing and hopefully have more success in Mexico.”
Mark Preston, Team Principal, Lola Yamaha ABT, said: “It has been quite a difficult day for us in the first race of the Season and Lucas’ home race. It is disappointing that he couldn’t come away with points here after a coming together with another driver under Attack Mode. However, a real positive for the team is that Zane was able to score his first point in Formula E which was one of the targets we had for him for the first three rounds of his second season in the Championship, so it’s great he was already able to achieve that today. We are now looking forward to Mexico in the new year, we have lots to do over the next few weeks but we are confident we can pull together as a team to continue to improve.”
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship continues on Saturday 10th January in Mexico City.
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