DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird made up six places to secure his 12th career podium during the Formula E race in Punta del Este, with teammate Alex Lynn producing his best ever finish with sixth. The result by the two British drivers moves the team into third position in the manufacturer standings – with Bird also third in the drivers’ championship – as the all-electric series reaches its halfway stage.
“We were a little bit fortunate with [Sebastien] Buemi having an issue, getting damage”, Bird commented. “I don’t know what happened to Daniel [Abt] in the second stint, but that was again another position gifted to me.”
“The pace was good to be fair, I just wanted these two to fight a little bit more. I ran out of laps but a very strong race, it was nice to get another podium and we needed it from where we started. It was damage limitation in the championship as JEV (Jean-Eric Vergne) is streaking away as he did an amazing job, and it’s great to see Lucas [di Grassi] back on it too.”
“One thing I would like to say is last week, Britain lost an amazing journalist – a great man who brought so much energy and fever to others. It’s not a win, it’s the best I could do, but I would like to dedicate this to Henry Hope-Frost.”
Podium for @sambirdracing in #PuntaDelEsteEPrix in Uruguay, moving the @DSVirginRacing team to third in both drivers’s and teams’ standing. #DSAutomobiles #DSPerformance pic.twitter.com/v3hOOCQhsf
— DS Automobiles (@DS_Official) March 19, 2018
Sam Bird made up six places to secure his 12th career podium during the Formula E race in Punta del Este, Alex Lynn finished sixth
Alex Lynn said: “For sure it has been a positive race for us. And I’m really pleased to come away with sixth and my strongest result to date. The pace was good as we were once again in Superpole, but things didn’t quite go our way during the race, but it’s still a great result for me and the team.”
Team Principal Alex Tai commented: “We’ve previously not had the results at this track. So it’s even better to come away with such a strong finish. Formula E has such a competitive field so to be in third position in both the drivers’ and the teams’ championship at the halfway point is really a testament to the hard work and dedication of the whole team. We will continue to bring our strong performance to the upcoming European races and will fight for both driver and team championship.”
DS Performance Director Xavier Mestelan Pinon added: “We’ve scored big points in Punta del Este, allowing us to recover third place in the team standings. We’ve just crossed the halfway mark of season four and being third in both championships offers us great opportunities moving forward for the second half of the season.”
?From hitting the wall to hitting the podium. ?Here’s how @sambirdracing got his revenge on the #PuntaDelEsteEPrix #FormulaE #BattleontheBeach pic.twitter.com/OwGw6V1vWq
— DS Virgin Racing (@DSVirginRacing) March 20, 2018
