The second race in Diriyah featured once again some surprise podium sitters and the third different race winner in as many rounds. Let’s find out more about what went down in the shorter, second race under the Saudi Arabian moon!
Nick Cassidy
The Kiwi is the only driver on the podium in every race of the ’24 season so far, and he took his first win for Jaguar with a dominant display.
Starting from P3, Cassidy strategically used up his first Attack Mode after his main rivals for the win, taking it from the lead but having a gap big enough to resume the race still in P1.
The former Envision driver bolted to P1 in the provisional drivers ‘standings as well, making for a very strong beginning of Season 10, unlike his teammate Mitch Evans who has been struggling with car issues.
Cassidy was extremely pleased with his Saturday performance as he said:” This is awesome I mean it’s such a dream. I’ve got an amazing car and I’m so privileged but this here… I mean – I want it that way.”
“Every win is special, it’s just been a dream start. I’m waiting for a bad day, it’s gonna come but for now we ride, we ride.”
The Jaguar driver, who had already driven a Jaguar-powered challenger in his last season with Envision, went on to recall the main point of his race, the strong drive he had in the first laps of the race, pushing hard in order to get to the top spot and develop a consistent advantage:
“I took advantage at the start – I initially thought I went too hard at the start – but, you know, Jaguar TCS Racing gave me an amazing car and I’m super lucky.”
Robin Frijns
The Dutch driver has found his first podium of his second stint with Envision Racing, recovering from a difficult inaugural round.
In fact his Mexico City E-Prix hadn’t gone according to plans, as he had encountered troubles while starting his car, dropping ten spots, and went on to crash at Turn 17 a few laps later, for his second DNF in a row at the track.
Luckily, his crash didn’t have the same, impactful consequences his earlier one in 2023 had had, effectively forcing him to sit out the first half of the season due to a wrist injury.
Diriyah has always been kind to Frijns, who scored his first points of the year in Race 1 and went on to take his third P2 at the location in Race 2.
“I had a bit of trouble at the beginning of the season and had to get to know the car. Obviously, Nick has been driving the whole of last year with this car. There are still some steps to be made, but I will get there,” said Frijns while commenting on his great finish.
The former ABT driver congratulated race winner Nick Cassidy on his P1, while hoping for more at the next round:
“I thought today was really good. I was leading at first, so I felt nice and comfortable. But then began fighting with Nick the whole way – we were pulling away constantly, and almost killing each other at times. But Nick did a very good job. I secured good points too. I’ll take another step forward for the next phase.”
Oliver Rowland
The Nissan driver has been showcasing since the first practise sessions in Mexico City a great deal of speed, but it wasn’t until the final day of the Saudi double header that he truly was able to prove his worth.
Rowland took the fastest lap in the final practise session, Nissan’s first pole position since Cape Town 2023 and the first podium of the Japanese team in 2024 as well, with a strong driving performance that allowed him to remain at the front of the grid.
The British driver wasn’t completely satisfied with his performance, which was still an impressive feat as only a day earlier he had been lacking the pace needed to make his way to the top ten:
“I think yesterday was a bit disappointing for us, but today we regrouped, and we did an excellent job this morning, we were able to get the pole. I am slightly disappointed coming third. You know, the start of the day was a lot of wheel spinning, but we had our chance to control the race if we wanted to win.”
“We didn’t manage to do that, but still a great result for the team. Lots of points. And we’ll take this confidence into the next one,” added Rowland looking forward to the next Formula E outing in March.“
“I can absolutely build on this momentum going into Sao Paulo, I came back to Nissan with the target of winning. We know it’s a long road, but we’ll keep pushing and I think the first step was made today, and the potential we’ve seen over the first two races has been very good. I’m happy,” he summed up.
