After a thrilling start to DS TECHEETAH’s home E-Prix, Jean-Éric Vergne who qualified second, made his move to take the lead and kept it all the way to the chequered flag with an extremely strong drive. Meanwhile, his teammate, André Lotterer qualified in P7. He made his way up the grid to finish in P4 in the closely contested race.
Mark Preston, DS TECHEETAH Team Principal:
“We had some homework to do after Hong Kong and we still have some left but Jean-Éric really pulled it all together today. André did a great job as well scoring some more valuable points and we’re now third in the Teams’ Championship, Jean-Éric is third as well in the Drivers’ Championship and André is in P9. We have two of the best drivers in the paddock and one incredible team. This win was a real team effort and I’d like to thank each and every team member for their efforts.
“It’s incredibly tight at the top of the Teams’ championship now with the top two at 97 and 96 points respectively and we’re chasing right behind on 95. I don’t know how many times we say it but it’s true, anything can happen, and anything is possible in this championship, at every single race. We couldn’t have had a better return to China for the championship.”
Relive the action from today’s thrilling race and watch @JeanEricVergne win our home @FIAFormulaE E-Prix in China ?? #SanyaEPrix pic.twitter.com/NtfHOVjQwq
— DS TECHEETAH (@DSTECHEETAH) March 23, 2019
Xavier Mestelan Pinon, DS Performance Director:
“This victory is a fantastic outcome for Jean-Éric and the team and it puts us in a very promising position for the rest of the championship. We were extremely competitive in all areas for the team’s home race, in China, which is an important market for the DS AUTOMOBILES.
It is encouraging to get back in the title hunt and ahead of the next races in Rome and Paris, DS Performance will be running some development tests and further evolutions will be done to the DS E-TENSE FE19 in preparation for the first two races in Europe.”
Had to pinch ourselves this morning to make sure it wasn’t all a dream. #SanyaEPrix
Thank you #Sanya for an unforgettable @FIAFormulaE weekend. pic.twitter.com/26NqqJ9M0V
— DS TECHEETAH (@DSTECHEETAH) March 24, 2019
Jean-Éric Vergne:
“It was a pretty good race. Winning in China as a Chinese team was something unbelievable, especially after the last 3 races that we had with no points. It’s always good to come back on top. It boosts the confidence of myself and the team and puts us back in a good spot for the championship. I think this was the turning point of the season and now we need to just to keep on doing good work and have good races in the European half of the season.”
Another win for JEV! @JeanEricVergne is your @DHL_Motorsports #DHLDriverOfTheDay for the 2019 FWD #SanyaEPrix ⚡️ #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/p98zFH9fQR
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) March 24, 2019
André Lotterer:
“Congratulations to the team and Jean-Éric for winning the race. It’s great to win our home race! Obviously, I would have loved to have been on the podium too or even win the race as a comeback for Hong Kong. It was not a bad weekend for us. I started 7th, finished P4 and had some good overtakes and a good car. So now I look forward to going to Rome and scoring more points.”
