Mexico City. In the fifth round of the ABB FIA Formula E
Championship, António Félix da Costa (POR) yet again scored points
for MSAD Andretti Formula E. The Mexico City E-Prix at the “
Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez” in the centre of Mexico’s
capital saw him cross the line in seventh. His team-mate Tom
Blomqvist (GBR) had to make do with P15 in his maiden Formula E
appearance in Mexico. MSAD Andretti Formula E celebrated its
fourth points finish in the fifth race of the season.
The qualifying
António Félix da Costa made the headlines in the qualifying
session for the Mexico City E-Prix. To begin with, he set the
third-fastest time – 1:01.772 minutes – in qualifying Group 3. No
driver from Group 4 was able to beat the 26-year old’s time, thus he
made it into Super Pole for first time since the race in Buenos Aires
(ARG) in Season 2. In that top-five contest, Félix da Costa came
second behind Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist (SWE), however, he was
relegated to fourth after the session as his car was found to be
underweight after the Super Pole. Tom Blomqvist recorded a lap time of
1:02.443 minutes in qualifying group one, meaning he had to start from
18th on the grid.
The race
At the start, Félix da Costa lost a position to eventual winner
Daniel Abt (GER) and couldn’t quite match the pace of the
front-runners in the first part of the race, however, he successfully
defended his top-10 position. After the round of pit stops in the
middle of the race, Félix da Costa was running in eighth. He gained
another position when André Lotterer (GER) had to take a drive-through
penalty. Blomqvist experienced a tough race but never gave up and
tried to gain ground at the back of the field. He ultimately crossed
the line in 15th.
The reactions
António Félix da Costa, MSAD Andretti Formula
E: “We take a lot of positives from today. The pace was
really good all day. We made it into Super Pole and had a strong
qualifying. Our performance in the race was a bit disappointing. We
will look into this. However, we are making massive steps as a team.
I’m looking forward to the coming races. We have the potential to
score points every weekend and are definitely working in the right direction.”
Tom Blomqvist, MSAD Andretti Formula E: “This
was a challenging weekend, to say the least. Things just didn’t run
smoothly for us today. We had some little issues in free practice,
which set us back. You lose a bit of confidence and then have to go
straight into the race. This wasn’t easy. The second stint was okay,
but when you are coming from so far behind, it’s just very difficult.
It was a learning weekend.”
The BMW i Fleet
BMW i is once again “Official Vehicle Partner” of the ABB FIA
Formula E Championship in Season 4. Spearheading the BMW i fleet is
the new BMW i8 Coupé, modified with BMW M components (combined fuel
consumption: 1.9 l/100 km; combined energy consumption 14.0 kWh/100
km; combined CO2 emissions: 42 g/km). As well as the BMW i8 Coupé, the
BMW i fleet for the ABB Formula E Championship also includes the new
BMW i3s (combined fuel consumption: 0.0 l/100 km; combined energy
consumption: 14.3 kWh; combined CO2 emissions: 0 g/km)* as “Medical
Car” and “Race Control Car”, and the BMW X5 xDrive40e (combined fuel
consumption: 3.4 – 3.3 l/100 km; combined energy consumption: 15.4 to
15.3 kWh/100 km; combined CO2 emissions: 78 – 77 g/km)* in its role as
“Rescue Car”.