After a strong weekend in Berlin, where he took a victory and a second place across the two races, Edoardo Mortara is hopeful of maintaining the momentum in this weekend’s first-ever Jakarta E-Prix.
The ROKiT Venturi Racing driver currently sits second in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Drivers’ standings heading into the ninth round of the season, and last time out he also broke through in Qualifying as he took his first pole position.
Mortara says he is excited to learn the new Jakarta track in Indonesia, and he knows practice will be important to get a good feel of the circuit before Qualifying gets underway.
“Asia is a region that I love to be in and I’m really looking forward to racing in Jakarta for the first time,” said Mortara. “The circuit looks quite challenging at initial glance but I’m someone who loves to learn so I can’t wait to explore and discover its corners and characteristics first hand.
“Because the track is new, practice will be very important and we will quickly establish how accurate our simulator preparations have been.
“In Berlin, we enjoyed a very strong performance with two pole positions, one victory and two podiums and I hope we can carry that form forward into this weekend.”
Jakarta ‘will test every aspect of car performance’ – Lucas di Grassi
Team-mate Lucas di Grassi says the team has done a lot of preparation for the inaugural Jakarta E-Prix, with the Brazilian expecting the track to test every aspect of the Formula E car.
Di Grassi has shown signs of having good pace throughout his first season with Venturi but has only one podium finish to his name in the opening eight races, but he hopes he can find the form this weekend as he bids to improve on his ninth place in the Drivers’ standings.
“The Jakarta circuit has a good mixture of low, medium and high-speed corners and will test every aspect of car performance,” said di Grassi. “It is very tight and technical and embodies what Formula E and street circuit racing is all about.
“At this stage, we have done some good preparations in the simulator but we need to verify this work in practice.
“So far this season, we have shown very good pace and we know that we can fight at the front so this is the target for this weekend.”
Lucas di Grassi has high hopes for the Jakarta E-Prix weekend – Credit: Sam Bloxham/FIA Formula E