- After Jean-Eric Vergne’s pole position and podium the day before, DS Automobiles and PENSKE AUTOSPORT racked up yet more important points in Saturday’s race
- Stoffel Vandoorne crossed the finish line in fifth place while Jean-Eric Vergne was classified eighth
- Following the third race of the year, DS PENSKE holds an excellent place second place in the teams’ classification while Jean-Eric Vergne is in the top three of the drivers’ championship
With Jean-Eric Vergne having set pole and finished runner-up in Friday’s Diriyah race, the DS PENSKE drivers returned to the Saudi Arabian track on Saturday for the second race of the double-header. This time, both Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne qualified for the duels. The Belgian lined up fourth on the grid, while the Frenchman started from eighth.
Saturday’s grid looked somewhat different to Friday’s starting order, adding another element of intrigue to the start. Straight away, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne held onto their respective fourth and eighth places, fighting in the lead pack. The order remained fixed until Attack Mode was activated: while the gaps were tight, it was still hard to make up places by straying off the ideal racing line.
Vandoorne established himself in fifth, in the slipstream of the leading quartet, while JEV was placed between seventh and ninth, before finally taking the points for eighth place at the finish.
As a result, DS PENSKE now holds second place in the teams’ classification after a strong points haul in Diriyah, while Jean-Eric Vergne consolidates his third place in the drivers’ championship.
The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship resumes at the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo in mid-March.
Eugenio Franzetti, DS Performance director:
“It was a positive weekend for the DS PENSKE team. Pole position and second place in Race 1, followed by a fifth and an eighth place in Race 2, bring us some excellent points for both the drivers’ and teams’ championships. We came here with the goal of improving on Season 9 and getting onto the podium, and that’s exactly what we did. The hard work carried out on the DS E-TENSE FE23 over the winter has delivered some good results, but we know that there’s still plenty of work to do. We’re going to make the most of the lengthy gap until Brazil to work hard and get closer still to our opponents. Now we head home from Saudi Arabia with second place in the teams’ championship, which gives us enormous motivation!”
Jean-Eric Vergne, 2018 and 2019 Formula E champion:
“It wasn’t an easy race as we had to fight our way up the field and overtaking is far from easy here. From that point, it was difficult to do any better. Together with Stoffel, we scored plenty of points in both races and compared to this time last year, I’ve already scored many more championship points. I’m very pleased with the performance we have shown so far, and the feeling within the team is really good. We came here to attack, which we did, and I think the best is still to come. Thank you to the whole team for this great start to the season!”
Stoffel Vandoorne, 2022 Formula E champion:
“Today was a much better day for us. As everyone knows, qualifying is really important and this time we got through it well. In terms of race pace, we’re still lacking a tiny bit compared to those at the very front, but we were able to perform strongly and we bagged a pretty good points haul over the weekend.”
Key figures since DS Automobiles entered Formula E:
- 108 races
- 4 championship titles
- 16 victories
- 48 podiums
- 23 pole positions
