Britain’s Oliver Turvey backed up yet another Super Pole performance by bringing his #8 NIO 333 001 car home a solid eighth place in the Valencia e-Prix, race 2.
The NIO 333 FE Team, partnered by Acronis, have been on something of a resurgence of form in 2021 after a tricky couple of seasons. Turvey secured points in both rounds of the Ad Diriyah e-Prix and was again on top form during qualifying, planting his car 4th on the grid and even advancing to second in the race before the mandatory Attack Modes.
“To end up P4, and on the second row, was a great position,” commented Turvey afterward. “We knew that the race was going to be tough in the full dry, with energy management here being critical. I think we got a good start; I was able to get ahead of Tom in the first corner and up to P3, and then the first part of the race was just managing the energy.
“I was able to keep the pace, but think we lost out a little bit in Attack Modes. However, we executed the race really well, got into a good rhythm and got the most out of the car. To come home in P8 and score points in a race with no incidents is a great result, so I have to really thank the team for all their hard work.”
𝑹𝑨𝑪𝑬 𝑯𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑳𝑰𝑮𝑯𝑻𝑺!
60 seconds from a thrilling Round 6 in Spain for the #DHLValenciaEPrix 💚@DHL_Motorsports pic.twitter.com/Nijvjts6x6
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) April 25, 2021
It could well have been even better for the NIO 333 FE Team, as fellow Brit Tom Blomqvist also enjoyed a stellar qualifying, making it through to the Super Pole shootout and starting P3 after penalties applied saw Andre Lotterer demoted from second to fifth.
The Anglo-Swede also enjoyed strong early race pace, but some unforeseen issues meant is would not be a double points finish that perhaps the team deserved for a strong weekend of racing.
“The race ended up being very unusual and really taxed our engineers as we managed the performance of the car,” added Christian Silk, NIO 333 Formula E Team Principal. “Oliver made a great start and ran a really strong race fighting as high as P2. We struggled a little with pace at the end of the race, but it was really pleasing to see the NIO 333 car running so strongly and this gives us great hope going forwards.
“Tom got slightly bulked at the beginning and lost a couple of places at the start. Unfortunately, we had some issues with his car which prevented him showing his natural pace and we finished out of the points with that car. We will go through the data with a fine-toothed comb and determine exactly where the problem was.”