Nissan remains positive amid issues in Formula E season opener

Nissan’s Formula E racing team revealed that it saw promising signs in the season opener of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship despite the issues its drivers faced in the first race.

Sacha Fenestraz started eight on the grid after the Franco-Argentine Nissan Formula E Team driver put in a good performance in the Group Stage of qualifying to progress to the Duels. He went as far as sixth place, but the 23-year-old driver dropped out of the top 10 after he experienced a system issue regarding energy management.

“I was really happy to make it through to the Duels in qualifying, the competition is really tough so we did a great job and almost made it into the semi-final. The race was a bit frustrating, as we definitely had the potential to score points. Toward the end, we had an issue with the energy management. We’ll look to find out what happened and correct it for the next race, but despite not scoring points it was a positive weekend, we made a big step between FP2 and qualifying and we know the areas we need to improve on,” Fenestraz commented.

As for Norman Nato, the French driver was forced to retire early after getting caught up in an incident in the first lap.

“It wasn’t the race we expected or hoped for. In FP2 we were feeling positive, the pace was good but we didn’t quite get the set-up right for qualifying, which cost us a bit of time. In the race, we were hit on Lap 1 and had to retire with damage. It’s frustrating because we need all the track time possible to learn about the new car, but we still leave Mexico with more data and more understanding of what we need to do to improve. We’ll put this one behind us and turn our attention to preparing for Diriyah in two weeks’ time,” said Nato.

Prior to the first race of Formula E’s ninth season at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodriguez in Mexico, Nissan unveiled its Gen3 car sporting a striking new livery with cherry blossoms trims. Per Nissan, the beautiful accent was a nod to the team’s Japanese DNA while also representing new beginnings.

On that note, Nissan is not only entering this year’s Formula E season with a brand-new car but also with new drivers as both Fenestraz and Nato are new to the team. Additionally, our eagle-eyed readers will notice that Nissan’s Formula E is now running under a different name, dropping Nissan E,Dams name.

Nissan Formula E Team will return to the track in Diriyah on January 27 and 28, 2023.

Photos from Nissan

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