The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship’s first appearance in India did not disappoint! In Hyderabad, the capital of Télangana, the 100% electric single-seater category produced a superb spectacle, with a race full of overtaking and twists and surprises, all in front of a crowd of 25,000 people. Surprises in the race there may have been, but the first victory of the season for the DS E-TENSE FE23 was less a surprise and more of a confirmation of potential for DS Performance, the racing division of DS Automobiles. This potential, present since the start of Season 9, was evident from free practice, with Jean-Éric Vergne taking second place in qualifying, just two hundredths of a second off pole position.
A few hours later, the only double champion in the electric discipline managed the situation perfectly during an E-Prix that was almost run flat-out despite the extreme heat (37 degrees Celsius at the start). After taking the lead shortly before the halfway stage of the race, the 32-year-old Frenchman used all of his experience and the efficiency of the DS E-TENSE FE23 to resist his challengers. “JEV” therefore took his 11th victory in the championship, with DS Automobiles celebrating its 16th success in Formula E. The victory has also launched Vergne into the championship mix too, with the Frenchman third in the provisional drivers’ standings. Despite only starting 17th on the grid, Stoffel Vandoorne also delivered a superb performance, thus confirming the impressive pace of the DS E-TENSE FE23. The Belgian driver cut through the field to finish sixth on the road after the chequered flag, an incredible 12 places gained. However, the reigning Formula E world champion was penalised five-seconds for exceeding track limits, dropping him to eighth position. Nonetheless, Vandoorne was still able to score points for the second time this season.
Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will continue in two weeks’ time at another brand-new circuit for all competitors in Cape Town, South Africa, on Saturday 25 February. Both DS Automobiles drivers and the entire DS PENSKE team will be aiming to continue this strong momentum.
Eugenio Franzetti, Director of DS Performance: “Motorsport is a bit like life in general. When you mix hard work and human quality, you end up with very good results. This is what I take away from this great victory for JEV! The whole team has worked so hard to find this level of performance and our drivers drove a magnificent race too. JEV was very quick all weekend and Stoffel produced an incredible fightback through the field.”
Jean-Éric Vergne: “Obviously, I am very happy with the victory! It’s great for the team to return to the top after three really difficult races. Clearly, we made some good improvements, and we have to continue in this vein, but to tell you the truth, I’m quite confident because I think there is a lot of room for improvement going forward. It’s now up to us to work hard and get more results like this one!”
Stoffel Vandoorne: “P8 in the end, the result could have been a bit better, that’s for sure as we finished 6th on track but unfortunately got a five-second penalty for track limits which bumped us back few positions. Overall, it was a fairly good recovery from 17th on the grid, that’s definitely still the big point to work on, it’s still quite inconsistent between when we are fast and not so fast, so there is definitely some work to do in qualifying because that will just make our races so much better. We clearly have some good pace in the races and with energy management but when you are so far back and the way the races are this year it’s extremely hard to overtake. It was a good day for the team, JEV won the race, especially considering the difficult stat of the season we had, it was well deserved result. We scored some good points for the team and now we have to keep our head down, keep working and hopefully we continue the upward strength.”
After his @GreenkoIndia #HyderabadEPrix victory, @JeanEricVergne leaps to third place in the Drivers’ Championship! 🙌@PWehrlein and @PorscheFormulaE comfortably lead the Drivers’ and Teams’ Standings after Round 4 🇮🇳
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) February 11, 2023
