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‘The toughest race we’ve had so far’ – di Grassi

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Putrajaya ePrix winner, Lucas di Grassi says today’s race was one of the toughest he’s experienced in the series thus far but believes his team is catching the leading frontrunners, Renault e.dams.

The extremely hot conditions affected the race massively, which affected both software and hardware on the car, forcing the likes of Sebastien Buemi and Loic Duval to retire on the last lap. The newly laid surface also played a huge factor in action, as Jerome d’Ambrosio retired due to marbles spitting him into the wall, while Mahindra’s Nick Heidfeld had a narrow escape as he clipped the wall at turn nine, but managed to carry on.

The Brazilian also admitted after the race that he had his fair amount of troubles throughout the race, saying the heat compromised his race, forcing him to go slower than he liked to.

“My race was also compromised from the heat,” he said. “I had to slow my pace down, and I think everybody had to do the same. I think we just managed to do it better.

“For me the most difficult part was to control the anxiety to try and overtake the car in front, knowing that the race was going to be very long, and you had to contain the temperatures.

“It was a patience race, and you had to be very precise because there were a lot of marbles on the track. The new asphalt was breaking away, so you had to be very precise and not make any mistakes.

[pullquote align=”right” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“It was a very, very tough mind game, this race. I think the toughest we’ve had so far.”[/pullquote]

Although rivals Renault e.dams suffered mechanical issues throughout the race, the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver admits there is still a lot of work to be done if they are to catch up to them, adding how strong Buemi’s pace in the early stages of the race, but he believes the team is heading in the right direction and have improved since Beijing, a fortnight ago.

“I think we’ve improved a lot from Beijing.

“I had the fastest first and second sector in qualifying, so clearly we made a step from Beijing because we were not fast.

“Now we have to understand what we do to catch up with Renault; they are still the team to beat, it is still the car with the highest performance.

“It’s good to be where we are now, but we have to get back home and started working a lot for the Punta race.”

di Grassi now leads the drivers championship with 43 points, eight ahead of Buemi, and Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport now lead the constructors championship with 49 points, 13 ahead of French squad, Renault e.dams.

Jordan Peacock | e-racing.net

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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About Jordan Peacock
Jordan is a passionate and crazy motorsport fan turning his attention and dab hand to a bit of writing.
When there's not cars going around the track, or studying he spends his time listening to music and researching.