The dutch Nyck de Vries (Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team) achieved victory this Friday in the opening round of the World Championship Formula E, contested at night on the Saudi street circuit of Diriyah.
De Vries, 26, entering his second season in the EV category, had a brilliant performance that included first place in both practice rounds, qualifying and super pole.
The Mercedes driver prevailed with 4.119 seconds of margin over the second, the Swiss Edoardo Mortara (Venturi Racing), and 4.619 on the third, the New Zealander Mitch Evans (Jaguar Racing).
“My first victory in Formula E! What a fantastic result and a perfect start to our second season. I don't know why, but I was pretty calm after the race despite the pleasure of winning. It has been a great weekend for me, so by far, setting the fastest time in each session and then winning the E-Prix ”, the winner explained.
“It was not an easy race. There were a lot of safety cars and it was difficult to always select the correct power management. It took a lot of communication with the team, but it's great that I was able to come home with victory at the end. "added
The current champion, the Portuguese Antonio Felix da Costa (DS Techeetah) qualified eleventh, after starting eighteenth, 16.225 seconds behind the winner in the first night race of the contest.
The Formula E activity on Saudi soil will continue on Saturday with the second race of the event, the first of a worldwide character in the specialty.
RESULTS
| POS | PILOT | TEAM | VTAS. | TIME / dIF. |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Nyck de Vries | Mercedes | 32 | 46m44.765s |
| 2 | Edoardo Mortara | Venturi racing | 32 | 4.119s |
| 3 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 32 | 4.619s |
| 4 | Rene Rast | Audi | 32 | 4.852s |
| 5 | Pascal Wehrlein | Porsche | 32 | 7.962s |
| 6 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.dams | 32 | 9.318s |
| 7 | Alexander sims | Mahindra Racing | 32 | 9.686s |
| 8 | Stoffel vandoorne | Mercedes | 32 | 9.973s |
| 9 | Lucas di Grassi | Audi | 32 | 11.089s |
| 10 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 | 32 | 15.518s |
| 11 | Antonio Felix da Costa | DS Techeetah | 32 | 16.225s |
| 12 | Jake dennis | BMW Andretti | 32 | 17.025s |
| 13 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.dams | 32 | 17.273s |
| 14 | Norman Nato | Venturi racing | 32 | 17.312s |
| 15 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | 32 | 18.402s |
| 16 | Andre Lotterer | Porsche | 32 | 18.417s |
| 17 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | 32 | 18.822s |
| 18 | Tom blomqvist | NIO 333 | 32 | 19.072s |
| 19 | Nick cassidy | Envision Virgin Racing | 32 | 19.951s |
| 20 | Sergio Sette Camara | Dragon Penske Autosport | 32 | 20.174s |
| 21 | Nico Muller | Dragon Penske Autosport | 32 | 20.586s |
| - | Maximilian guenther | BMW Andretti | 23 | Accident |
| - | Sam bird | Jaguar Racing | 22 | Accident |
| - | Alex lynn | Mahindra Racing | 16 | Accident |
