After being awarded a five-second time penalty in Race One which dumped him from the podium, Nyck de Vries finally stepped-foot on the London E-Prix podium in Race Two, after finishing third.
The Dutchman had finished the first race in third; however, he was given a late penalty due to moving under braking in-front of Nick Cassidy. The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver was more careful whilst defending in Race Two, where after some breathtaking pace and great overtaking moves, he sealed a third-place finish.
It could’ve possibly been even better for De Vries who had the pace for second, this wasn’t possible, though, as he revealed after the race that he had been suffering from some damage late on.
Despite this, the reigning Formula E World Champion was “delighted” with his result.
“I am delighted. I think the team executed a great race, getting all the Attack Modes and major decisions just right, so I am very satisfied with what we accomplished today. Seven or eight laps before the end, something broke on the left front suspension, so I was really worried that I wouldn’t be able to finish the race.
“If it hadn’t been for that, we might have attempted a bit of an attack on Jake later on in the race, but ultimately I think we are happy about having consolidated a good team result and coming away from here with a decent haul of points towards the Team Championship.”
“There’s just one weekend to go” – Stoffel Vandoorne
Stoffel Vandoorne is on the brink of becoming the 2022 Formula E World Champion, as the Belgian driver recovered unbelievably well from a poor qualifying to finish in fourth. The top four in the Drivers’ Championship all failed to make it to the qualifying duels, with Vandoorne being the only one capable of making a comeback to the points during the race.
However, it was looking like it would be a fifth-place finish for the Mercedes driver, as Mitch Evans in-front suffered a heartbreaking car failure, which saw the New Zealander retire with just two minutes remaining.
As a result of Evans’ retirement, Vandoorne has a thirty-six point lead going into the season finale, as do Mercedes-EQ in the Constructors’ Championship.
“The race today was very good when you consider where I was starting from on the grid. I had to be very aggressive when it mattered but also stay out of trouble as far as possible. We had good pace and, on a track like this, it was an excellent comeback. We can definitely be happy with the weekend in general and the points we scored.
“Now there’s just one weekend to go, and we’ve got to keep working every bit as hard as we have been so far, because we know that there can be big swings in Formula E. We’ve had a great package this year, but we have to give a lot of credit to the team who, every weekend, have been putting the car in a window that we are able to use. That’s real teamwork.”
The Belgian driver also spoke EXCLUSIVELY to The Checkered Flag after the race.
Credit: Suberashi Auto Photo