NIO 333’s Russell O’Hagan: “It’s been really gratifying to consistently show our pace”

NIO 333 Racing are certainly on a path that is pointing in the right direction, with Dan Ticktum seemingly being the main man leading the way as it stands, with the British driver having claimed the team’s first point of the season at the Diriyah E-Prix double-header.

The second and third rounds of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship were an incredibly mixed affair for the Chinese team, who showed sensational pace over one-lap, whilst not so much over race distance. Ticktum demonstrated his one-lap pace at the Riyadh Street Circuit by topping Free Practice Two comfortably, before going on to lose in the Semi-Final stage of the duels ahead of Race One. Due to the team’s clear efficiency issues, the former Formula 2 driver couldn’t convert his second row start into points, and actually faded to fourteenth place.

Ticktum was again quick in qualifying ahead of Race Two in Saudi Arabia; however, a cat on the circuit caught the Brit’s eye, resulting in him bailing out of his lap. It turns out that this cat might have been responsible for blessing the NIO driver with good luck, as despite qualifying eleventh he managed to hold on to the top ten to claim a sole point for himself and the team.

For Sérgio Sette Câmara there was considerably less to celebrate, with the Brazilian driver having finished Race One in fifteenth and Race Two in seventeenth. The team’s Gen3 powertrain certainly has potential and is arguably one of the strongest packages over a single-lap; however, there is absolutely no doubt that their efficiency issues are costing them several points.

Given where the team were, though, during the entirety of Gen2, NIO are well and truly back amongst the pack, with Deputy Team Principal Russell O’Hagen having found it “really gratifying to consistently show our pace”. O’Hagen was also “really proud” of Ticktum qualifying fourth for Race One, with that having been the Silverstone-based outfit’s best qualifying performance since the Season Seven Valencia E-Prix.

“Another good step for us this weekend and it’s been really gratifying to consistently show our pace and consolidate on our performance in Mexico. I am really proud of the fourth place in qualifying on Friday, even more so knowing it was so close to being a front row. Unfortunately, we weren’t able to capitalise in the first race, but the team worked incredibly hard overnight to find more long run performance and delivered perfectly with Dan on Saturday.   

“We still have a lot of work to improve our race performance where we can, but we will be giving it everything to maximise our potential.  A big thanks to the team and drivers for delivering an exceptional weekend.”