NEXTEV’s “improvements” leave a lot to be desired

[vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

It was a mixed day for NEXTEV TCR as their drivers finished ninth and twelfth in the long, 35-lap Buenos Aires ePrix. Turvey’s ninth place brought the team their third points finish of the championship, but bad timing stopped them finishing higher.

The team were expecting to see improvements ahead of the race and perhaps some of them came through in qualifying, when Piquet bagged himself ninth on the grid. It was the best the team have managed all season.

The twelfth place Piquet finished in wasn’t what the team will have been hoping for. According to the team, the safety car ruined the defending champions’ strategy, and we could have seen a much higher finish for Piquet if it hadn’t been for the short pause in the racing.

Saving energy in the first stint and driving more aggressively has become something of a trademark for Piquet, but with Formula E so unpredictable, there’s no guarantee of it paying off.

Once again it didn’t.

Piquet spent the first half of the race at almost the very back of the field. The Brazilian saw a small improvement after the pit stop, but not as much as the team would have hoped for. The extra lap of power he had didn’t come in useful when everyone else had been able to save energy during the safety car period, and Piquet would possibly have been better off playing the same strategy as everyone else on the grid.

“We tried a few things, some of which worked and some didn’t, and so I lost a lot of ground at the beginning because of what we were trying to accomplish,” said Piquet. “The positive thing is that we’re trying lots of new things and doing a bit of trial and error and we have to do that in the position we are in. The team is continuing to work really hard and our focus is now on the next race in Mexico.”

[pullquote align=”left” cite=”” link=”” color=”” class=”” size=””]“Our cars are in a better shape compared to the beginning of the season,” said Team Principal Steven Lu. “We will work to improve on the problems we suffered in Nelson’s car.”[/pullquote]

Turvey, on a different strategy, seemed to have the exact opposite day to his teammate. A qualifying that could have been better put the Brit in eleventh, but impressive driving in the opening laps of the race saw him improve that position to eighth by the end of lap three.

It was the pit stops that stopped Turvey scoring higher. Losing time there caused the Brit to drop back down to eleventh. Turvey continued to race until the very end, though, and passed Mahindra’s Bruno Senna for ninth on the final lap of the race.

“Today in qualifying, my lap wasn’t perfect, but to be closer to the front is encouraging and it gave us the position to fight in the race,” said Turvey.

From our side, the strategy worked out well and we were able to make the most of it. The pit stop was a bit of a shame because I lost time and we would have finished higher.”

So the focus is now on Mexico and continuing the improvement NEXTEV saw over the winter break. There’s not much the team can do, with the parts of the car they might like to change set in place at the beginning of the season, but NEXTEV have done something that worked, and can only continue to get to grips with the technology.

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row][vc_row][vc_column][vc_column_text]

Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

[/vc_column_text][/vc_column][/vc_row]