Da Costa wins the inaugural Ad Diriyah E-Prix in challenging Riyadh conditions
The first staging of Formula E’s Saudia Ad Diriyah E-Prix yesterday was always going to be a step into the unknown for the 22 drivers who took to the streets of the 2.5-kilometre Riyadh Street Circuit.
But the last-minute unexpected element of rain made the inaugural race day of the event that bit more challenging.
Heavy rain in the morning meant the early practice sessions were cancelled, and the qualifying format had to be shortened.
While the 45-minute race took place on schedule in the afternoon, race winner Antonio Felix da Costa admitted the change in conditions had made life in Ad Diriyah that bit tougher.
The Portuguese driver, who had started on pole position in his BMW i Andretti Motorsport car, said: “These cancelled free practice sessions, going almost straight into quali, only one lap on a wet track in quali, it was really tricky.
“So to be able to do that pole position was a great feeling and to win the race shows that as a team we’ve executed the race perfectly without any mistakes and this is something that we’ve really been working hard on.”
The 27 year old had to survive late pressure from defending champion Jean-Eric Vergne to prevail, and he acknowledged that the event, which is the first of a 10-year deal between the championship and the Saudi General Sports Authority, had proved to be very challenging.
“I think for me yes, physically, mentally, so to come away with a win is great,” he said of how hard the conditions had been.
“This track you had to be so focused all the way through – it’s pretty high speed for us and super-close to the walls, and the track was so slippery as well, so dirty from the day that we had, so it wasn’t easy, but I’m happy with that.”
Vergne, of the DS Techeetah team, had scythed his way up from fifth on the grid to lead after 18 minutes of the event.
He had taken second with a bold overtaking move approaching turn 18 on the outside of Nissan e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi after 10 minutes of racing. And he repeated the manoeuvre on Da Costa eight minutes later.
But Vergne picked up a drivethrough penalty after 28 minutes for a technical infringement, allowing Da Costa to regain the lead, and although he climbed back to second by the time the safety car arrived after Jose Maria Lopez’s Geox Dragon Racing car stopped on track, he was unable to regain the lead in the closing seconds of proceedings.
Jerome D’Ambrosio completed the podium in third, while former Formula One driver Felipe Massa was 14th on his debut.
The teams will be back at the track today for a test session, with a number of female drivers, including the UAE’s Amna Al Qubaisi, taking part. Al Qubaisi will be testing with the Envision Virgin Racing team.