Hartley: It was a jungle out there
New Zealand’s Brendon Hartley described his new Formula E racing environment as ‘‘a jungle’’ as he scrambled some points out of the season-opening weekend in Saudi Arabia.
Hartley had a forgettable debut to finish 19th in the first race on the Riyadh street circuit.
But he pushed hard to get a ninth in the second race and finish the weekend with two championship points.
That was the same total as fellow Kiwi Mitch Evans who had a 10th in the first race and earned a bonus point for recording the fastest lap. Evans was 18th in the second race.
British drivers
Sam Bird and Alexander Sims took the two chequered flags on offer.
Hartley crashed in the opening practice session and missed the second practice session. His first full lap of power in the highly technical electric championship was in qualifying for the opening race.
He was happy to emerge with something to show for his American team,
GEOX Dragon.
‘‘I’ll take that,’’ Hartley said of breaking into the top 10 in the second race and getting on the points table.
‘‘The race was messy but I am happy to get some points on the board. It was a jungle out there!’’
Evans looked set for a top-five result in the opening race before an incident with Bird left him with damage, forcing him to pit and also take a penalty.
Evans showed good speed in qualifying for the second race. He was fourth quickest but received a penalty for a technical infringement and started in sixth but then had ‘‘a race to forget’’.
The next round is in Santiago, Chile, on January 18.