DS AUTOMOBILES CONCLUDES FORMULA E SEASON 9 IN THE TOP 5 OF THE TEAMS CHAMPIONSHIP
At the end of season 9, DS Automobiles and PENSKE AUTOSPORT have sealed fifth place in the Teams’ Championship.
The final races of Season 9 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which took place on Sunday in London, allowed Stoffel Vandoorne to make up for the previous day. After a difficult Saturday showing for our drivers, where Stoffel placed twelfth and JEV being forced to retire, at the end of a fiercely-contested race on a partially wet ExCel London circuit, the DS Automobiles driver managed to place his DS E-TENSE FE23 in the top five at the end of the race.
After a successful qualifying, Stoffel give himself some good chances by starting from fifth on the grid. The Belgian managed to make the most of this opportunity. In very tricky conditions, the 2022 world champion demonstrated all his talent as well as the effectiveness of the purely electric single-seater developed by DS Performance by finishing in a fine fifth position. As a result, he lived up to his aspirations by ending the year on a positive note.
Jean-Éric Vergne, however, suffered with a lack of grip. He was forced to come into the pits to change tyres and had to settle for 22nd place. Nonetheless, the 2018 and 2019 champion could console himself with an honourable fifth position in the drivers’ classification. Not to mention his superb victory in India earlier this season.
At the end of their first year of collaboration, DS Automobiles and its partner PENSKE AUTOSPORT can count themselves among the top teams in the championship, having ended up fifth in the overall rankings.
After a 2023 season full of twists and turns, all eyes are now already on 2024. The first E-Prix of Season 10 is scheduled for January 13th in Mexico.
Eugenio Franzetti, DS Performance director:
“Again, it’s difficult to comment on the actual race. The rain affected the start, which was postponed several times, and then also determined the race itself. The drivers were right to be careful and not take big risks, so there weren’t many overtaking moves. Stoffel started P5 and finished P5, delivering the points necessary for us to retain P5 in the teams’ classification as well. As for JEV, he had problems with his tyres and had to stop to change them, losing many places. One thing is for sure, we will all work very hard in the coming months to improve our position next season! Tonight, all that remains is to congratulate the winners: Jake Dennis in the drivers’ classification and Envision Racing in the teams’ classification. They truly deserve their success.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, 2018 and 2019 Formula E champion:
“It was a difficult day for me. I suffered from a significant lack of grip during the first half of the race, which forced me into the pits to change the rear tyres. After that, I had little left to hope for. Now we need to concentrate on next year. So I’m happy that we have a few months ahead of us to make progress and bring in some developments. We had some good moments in the middle of the season and ended up fifth in both the drivers’ and teams’ classifications, but it’s clear that we want to do better in 2024!”
Stoffel Vandoorne, 2022 Formula E world champion:
“It was good that we could take the points for fifth place on Sunday; it was a nice way to end the season. We started off with a very good qualifying session; fifth was definitely the best grid result we could have obtained today. With the tricky conditions that were waiting for us, it was important to get underway from the front of the field. Today’s driving was a real challenge because there was very little grip and visibility on the circuit. We put together a very solid race thanks to our good pace and an effective strategy with the Attack Mode in particular. Now, we’re going to work hard to come back even stronger next year.”
