Alexander Sims: “Normally the race is strong for us so we have to understand why we struggled”

Alexander Sims scored a sixth-place finish in race two of the New York City E-Prix on Sunday, but the Mahindra Racing driver admits the race pace at the Brooklyn Street Circuit appeared to abandon them.

Sims was forced to retire from Saturday’s opening race after contact from behind caused a puncture, but he recovered on Sunday to score points, coming out first of a close battle between himself and Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Sérgio Sette Câmara to run seventh and then passing the damaged car of Mitch Evans on the final lap to take sixth.

Mahindra have often shown to have better race pace than it shows in Qualifying, but Sims feels it was not as strong as they had hoped it would be on Sunday, which left them scratching their heads to why they finished over sixteen seconds off race winner Sam Bird.

“Yesterday was frustrating with the puncture,” said Sims.  “I think I got hit by [Norman] Nato, but it was a bit of a racing incident, which was unfortunate as we were clawing positions back after struggling with pace at the start.

“Today was a solid race and I’m pleased with it – we had a lot of clean air so we just did our own thing and brought the car home.

“Normally the race is strong for us so we have to understand why we struggled in the races this weekend and keep working for London and Berlin.”

“This championship is so tight” – Alex Lynn

Team-mate Alex Lynn admitted failing to score a point in the first race of the weekend was disappointing, particularly when he started third on the grid after impressing in Qualifying.

Lynn attacked for the lead going into turn one on Saturday but ran wide to drop to fifth, and despite surviving contact with Pascal Wehrlein, he was unable to prevent himself from falling outside of the top ten.

He started eighth in race two but was fighting for much of the day outside of the points, but he recovered in the closing laps to finish ninth to score two points.  However, he knows it could have been a much better weekend points-wise than it turned out to be.

“It was a shame yesterday not to score a point after starting from third – I was super happy with qualifying and the Super Pole lap,” said Lynn on Sunday.  “Today was a solid result, with a sixth and ninth place finish for us, in a weekend where we struggled with race pace.

“This championship is so tight; for our cars to finish ahead of all the factory BMW’s, Audis, Nissans and Mercedes shows the quality and competitiveness in the field.

“There’s a lot of work to be done ahead of London as we want to be back up there and our attention turns immediately to that.”

Alex Lynn scored only two points in New York despite strong pace throughout the weekend – Credit: FIA Formula E