Motorsport TechnologyThe ROKiT Venturi Racing team, partnered by Acronis, secured a well-earned double points finish in Race 2 of the inaugural Valencia e-Prix as Norman Nato finished 5th and Edoardo Mortara 9th.
It had looked for a long time that the excellent Nato would atone for his final lap heartbreak in Rome by finishing on the podium this time. Running a strong second, an unfortunate contact with Alex Lynn led to a five second time penalty, meaning the Frenchman would eventually be classified fifth.
“Everyone was in the same position with conservation and when I was in P3, Dennis slowed massively which caused the pack to bunch up,” commented Nato afterward. “This caught me off guard and I applied the brakes as soon as possible but I touched Alex [Lynn] and he went off the track. It wasn’t on purpose and I’m really sorry it happened.
“It was a shame to get the penalty because it cost us another podium today which is difficult to swallow. There are still a lot of positives – the car felt great, we had strong pace and we were able to fight for the win today, which is very good before our home race in Monaco.”
Carving through the order 🔪#ValenciaEPrix #MadeInMonaco #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/u2P8fBK4cy
— ROKiT Venturi Racing (@VenturiFE) April 25, 2021
For teammate Mortara, it was a very different kind of race, the Swiss driver charging through the field from 16th on the grid to 9th by the finish.
“We had a difficult race today starting from the back,” reflected Mortara. “On the opening lap, I made up some positions, but I was pushed wide which cost me some time. Overall, I think it was a good comeback drive. We had good pace and the team executed the strategy well which meant we had more energy than the cars around us at the end. Considering where we started from, P9 is a good result.”
The double points finish means that the ROKiT Venturi Racing team took home 12 points from their efforts in Spain and only 15 points separates the Monaco based team from third placed Envision Virgin Racing.
“We executed the strategy very well as a team today,” added Susie Wolff, ROKiT Venturi Racing Team Principal. “Both Edo and Norman delivered strong performances to score our first double points finish of the season and again, we showed the potential of our Season 7 package. It was a shame for Norman to pick up a five-second time penalty which meant he wasn’t able to stand on the podium for the second race weekend in a row.
“He deserved P2 but I’m confident that his time will come very soon. A result like this before our home race is very encouraging and now, our full focus moves to the Monaco E-Prix in two weeks’ time where we’ve had success as a team in the past.”
What a tense finish that was! A podium just escapes us again but that's the first double points finish for us this season#ValenciaEPrix #MadeInMonaco #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/lLHePSCx0T
— ROKiT Venturi Racing (@VenturiFE) April 25, 2021
Fraser Masefield