Luckless Lotterer would prove a popular winner in Formula E

For DS TECHEETAH driver Andre Lotterer, winning used to come easy. The triple Le Mans winner is something of a sportscar legend, the German also winning the 2012 FIA World Endurance Championship.

Yet despite also enjoying success in single seat racing, a victory in Formula E has somehow eluded him.

It seemed certain that Lotterer would break his duck in Hong Kong this year after a superb drive saw him just over a lap from victory until an over-ambitious Sam Bird punted his right-rear tyre with his front wing, causing a puncture and dropping him to the back of the field. It was a bitter pill to swallow.

“It should have been my race I think and he just used me to stop himself,” Lotterer told Motorsport Technology at the time. “Obviously he tried to make a move but the move was so over-ambitious that he destroyed my suspension and my tyre and obviously (at time of writing) he is under investigation now and he ruined my race.

.@Andre_Lotterer and @JeanEricVergne give their thoughts on an eventful #HKEPrix: pic.twitter.com/sDGbBzGmhm

— DS TECHEETAH (@DSTECHEETAH) March 10, 2019

“Hopefully that first victory is close,” he continued. “It’s so hard to win a race in this championship and I’ve been working very hard and am fully committed to this championship.”

That elusive victory seemed to once again be within his grasp in Rome after a near-flawless drive from pole position. But with a handful of laps remaining and despite a heroic defensive drive, Mitch Evans pulled out a superb move under Attack Mode to take the win.

“Unfortunately he won, but congrats to him he drove a great race and it was a nice battle,” conceded Lotterer afterward. “He was just quicker, you know. Nothing I could do. I tried to defend but he just has a couple of tenths in the pocket and I couldn’t fight him also on attack mode, so I need to look what happened. I think I was a bit high on tyre pressure. At the beginning it was good but then I started to slide around a lot but yup, too bad. I wanted to win but I have to keep on pushing.”

And keep on pushing is what Lotterer will surely do. He clearly has the car beneath him to win, as teammate Jean-Eric Vergne proved in Sanya.

And with seven different winners in as many races in this most unpredictable season, surely the most predictable thing is that Lotterer will finally grab that victory at some point this season.