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- The first race of the New York E-Prix stopped with a red flag due to several incidents
- DS Automobiles third in the Teams’ championship
- The second race of the New York City E-Prix will take place tomorrow
The drivers performed well during free practice 2 but had to deal with the rain during qualifying in the morning. Due to a lower grip, Antonio Felix da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne ended the session in 10th and 16th place.
At the start of the race, the sun was shining in Brooklyn and after a few laps the drivers of the DS E-TENSE FE21 got caught up in traffic. Jean-Eric Vergne was contacted and ended at the back of the pack.
Later in the race, Antonio Felix da Costa was victim of a puncture following an incident with another car, that forced him to retire. Soon after this, heavy rain started to fall upsetting the race and causing several accidents on track. It was then decided by Race Direction to put the Red Flag out and with 7 minutes on the clock, this 11th round did not restart.
After this round full of action, DS TECHEETAH is now third in the Championship. Jean-Eric Vergne is standing 3rd with 128 points and Antonio Felix da Costa is 7th.
The second race of the New York City E-Prix will take place tomorrow, 17th July, at 13h.
Thomas Chevaucher, DS Performance Director and DS TECHEETAH Team Principal:
“We had the performance but unfortunately the rain disrupted our plans for qualifying and caused a serious accident during the race. Despite that, we are still in the top three of the Teams and Drivers’ Championships, so we are still in the fight for the titles. Now, all the team is focussed on tomorrow’s race.”
Mark Preston, TECHEETAH CEO:
“The day started strong with Antonio Felix Da Costa fastest in the second free practice so it looked good for qualifying. With both drivers in the same qualifying group, a short rain shower made the timing for track position important and ruined our chance for success. The team went into the race hoping to bring home points but instead, another heavy rain shower caused chaos in the race with a number of cars being taken out. JEV had been conserving energy awaiting a safety car or red flag to give an exciting race to the finish in a compressed field. Sadly, this was not to happen as the red flagged race was not restarted. We look forward to another day of racing with 5 more races to go in the championship.”
António Félix da Costa, driver of the #13 DS E-TENSE FE21:
“It’s one of those days… We had a strong car in practice and I was P1 in FP2 but we went on track too late in qualifying and got caught by the rain. Then I started 10th and even if it’s hard to stay out of trouble, we were looking strong for the end of the race with good energy and 10 laps to go. Potentially I could have scored some points but then got hit and had a puncture, so I had to retire the car. Finally I’m just glad that nobody got hurt in the accident at the end.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, driver of the #25 DS E-TENSE FE21:
“I had a good start but my race was ruined from the moment I got pushed and ended facing against the wall. I then lost 40 seconds to come back on track so there was nothing I could do. The red flag came out and I’m a bit surprised that they did not restart the race or put the safety car out at the start of the rain. Tomorrow is another day, another race so we will stay focused to fight back.”
DS Automobiles record in Formula E since season 2:
- 84 races
- 4 Championship titles
- 14 victories
- 43 podiums
- 20 pole positions
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