Edoardo Mortara: “I’m very glad to take my first win of the season”

Edoardo Mortara proved that the form he and his ROKiT Venturi Racing team showed during season seven of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was not a fluke as he started season eight with a victory in race two of the Diriyah E-Prix last weekend.

The Swiss driver came out on top of a battle that involved team-mate Lucas di Grassi, Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns and Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team’s Nyck de Vries to claim his third career Formula E victory, with the win also moving him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship after he finished sixth in race one.

Mortara said it was a calm start to his race in Saudi Arabia on Saturday evening as he settled into a rhythm behind early leader de Vries, and it was clear early that the pace of the Venturi car was looking strong.

He used his attack modes to good use to hit the front, passing first de Vries and then di Grassi (who had used his attack mode earlier to pass them both) to take the lead, a position he would hold until the end despite late pressure from Frijns.

“What a day and what a result!” said Mortara.  “The first part of the race was quite calm and I settled into a nice rhythm following Nyck [de Vries].

“I think he was trying to pull away from us but he didn’t manage to so at that stage, it was quite clear that we had good pace. Our strategy was conservative but the race on a whole was very difficult for my nerves because of the constant pressure from behind!

“Fortunately, I kept cool and our strategy worked perfectly and I’m very glad to take my first win of the season. After taking eight points yesterday and then scoring 25 today it’s been a great start to the season – from here, we will be hoping to be just as consistent in Mexico.

“I’m so proud of everyone in the team and I can’t wait to go racing again next month.”