Located near São Paulo’s Santana neighborhood, where legendary racing driver Ayrton Senna was born, the race took place on the Sambadrome, the city’s carnival scene every February.
As in India and South Africa, the 2.96km track was unknown to the pilots. Only the preparation for the simulator had revealed the roughness of the asphalt. For the sixth race in a row, the E-Prix winner was not the driver who took pole position. However, the teams used to being at the top of the timesheets in the new era of Formula E are still there.
And although Vandoorne’s top speed record (249.2km/h in South Africa) has been surpassed on this ultra-fast circuit, as Sebastien Buemi reached 266.5km/h in his Envision Racing, this did not prevented the reigning world champion from taking pole – the 22nd for the French manufacturer DS Automobiles.
“There are many positives to take from this weekend,” said Vandoorne. “I am very happy with this first pole position with DS Penske, which is also my first with the Gen3 car. We have to repeat it as soon as possible, but with such a fast track the drivers behind can save a lot of energy thanks to slipstreaming. In these conditions, it is difficult to fight from start to finish in the lead”.
Stoffel Vandoorne, DS Penske
Photo at: DPPI
Energy duel between DS and Porsche
The battle began in the final of qualifying, when Vandoorne beat the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa in the final. Team mates Vergne and Pascal Wehrlein, still leading the drivers’ championship, started seventh and 18th respectively.
DS Penske could have been in a better position than the German manufacturer on the starting grid, but the air temperature exceeded 35°C and the lead position was not advantageous for energy consumption.
Vandoorne took the lead from the first corners and set a good pace, while da Costa stayed safe in his slipstream. With the activation of the attack modes, the Safety Car intervened twice (adding four laps to the race), resulting in a change of positions. Porsche has clearly prioritized a strategic energy conservation plan, leaving Vandoorne and Jaguar’s Mitch Evans to do the bulk of the work up front.
Behind them, it has turned into a game of cat and mouse, with everyone hoping to find the best compromise between position, energy saving and offense. With a track generating peaks of over 250km/h, more than ever energy played a key role in the final result.
Stoffel Vandoorne, DS Penske
Photo at: DPPI
Under these conditions and for the first time this season, Jaguar placed both of its cars on the podium, with Evans taking victory and Sam Bird in third, split by Nick Cassidy’s Envision car, also powered by Jaguar.
Da Costa, who started second, finished fourth, ahead of Vergne, who rode an intelligent race. Vandoorne, who led for many laps, was eventually forced to drop to sixth. Nonetheless, important points for DS Penske, who climbs to fourth place in the Formula E constructors’ championship, just one length behind Jaguar.
In a month the championship will return to Europe. The next stage will be a double appointment, on 22-23 April. This time the competitors will return to a well-known circuit, the Tempelhof in Berlin, the only city the championship has traveled to every year since its creation in 2014.
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