Dillmann aiming for good qualifying in Monaco

After qualifying in the top ten at his home race, the Paris E-Prix, and setting the fastest lap, Tom Dillmann looks forward to the Monaco E-Prix for even better results. 

Last Saturday, the ABB Formula E Championship finally had its very first race under wet conditions. The Paris E Prix was certainly unforgettable, writing a new chapter in the history of the always innovative all-electric series.

The action-packed weekend required full attention from an audience captivated by the faster Gen2 cars and the extreme competitiveness of a championship that in the City of Light, met its eighth winner after eight rounds.

With only five rounds to go, Season five has proven to be the most challenging of its history, but as everything points it’s only a glimpse of what’s about to come in Season six when Mercedes and Porsche join the electric single seater series.

NIO Formula E Team’s driver Dillmann could not finish his home race, but overall, the French driver felt really good with the car. He highlighted the pros and cons of the Paris E-Prix weekend for him and the team.

“The pace was something to take on, which is really positive, we’ve been the strongest of the team has been all year, we qualified the best of the year (ninth place), we had a very good beginning of the race.

“It was the first time I felt I can finally fight, then, there was some frustration, because we couldn’t capitalize on it, we go home with zero points, it’s a shame,” the French driver said.

Dillmann had a strong race start and even set the fastest lap, 1:02.780s of the Parisian round. Teammate Oliver Turvey managed to make it to the finish line of a chaotic race. The British driver ended in the fourteenth position.

Both drivers made contact before the rain began to pour on the Les Invalides circuit, a couple of minutes later and with the track already wet, Dillman touched the wall.

An improvement from NIO as a whole was notorious despite the fact that points have once again escaped the Chinese team.

FORMULA E SHOWED IT CAN DANCE IN THE RAIN

After fifty-three rounds, the much-awaited rain fell down on an ABB Formula E street race for the first time.

“I was looking forward to it because I always feel good in the rain. In the morning I was strong in the wet as well, I didn’t mind wet or dry, and in the race, we were fast in the dry, fast in the wet as well.

It’s a lot of aquaplaning, especially when it rains a lot, it’s all the painting in the tarmac. I would say it´s the toughest car to drive already in the dry, so in the wet, it’s even more special,” Dillmann added.

ONTO THE NEXT ONE

The ninth round of season five will gather teams and drivers this weekend in Monaco. It will be the third time the ABB Formula E Championship returns to race in the Monegasque streets which is a unique and always challenging circuit.

In the two previous occasions in which Formula E raced in the city, Sébastien Buemi was the one to leave victorious the Principality. The Monaco E-Prix takes place every two years since 2015, with a shorter layout that the one used by Formula One.

“Monaco is a similar track [to Paris], quite short, we can hope to have a similar pace, there are few things we can improve to be even better.

“Monaco give us another chance on a very short track to do a good lap, being in the top 10 in quali to fight in the front and be out of trouble in the first lap,” Dillmann finished.