The race in Marrakesh, round 2 of the Fia Formula E championship, has been frustrating for the Venturi Formulae team.
During qualifying on the dusty track, Maro Engel and Stéphane Sarrazin got Position 14 and 15 on the grid.
Starting in the traffic is always difficult but the two drivers have been able to use this situation to take a position in lap one.
A mistake from Felix Da Costa later took them to P12 and 13.
With a steady first part of race both drivers kept all their chances to go into points at the end of the race (33 laps).
Back to the garage lap 17 to swap cars Maro was stuck during 7 laps due to an electronic issue still under engineers investigation.
He was P19 at the end of the race.
Maro Engel said: « It’s difficult because you don’t control anything in that kind of situation. I wanted to push, we were good in our strategy in regard to our position on the grid and everything collapsed. it’s a shame. We were on for top 10. »
Stéphane Sarrazin came back on track P9 after all the changes. But something went wrong with the consumption and he lost two positions at the end of the race (P12) « It’s been a difficult race. I made a mistake during qualifying i could have been in a better position on the grid. That’s for me. During the second part of the race we had troubles with energy and we have to look into that. it’s the first time since long and at the end i have lost positions and i am not in the points. »
For Stéphane it’s the end of a series as he scored in each race since the beginning of season two.
The Formula-E championship is going to make a pause now and will come back for the third round of the season 3 in Buenos Aires, Argentina, February 18th 2017.
Thierry Apparu,