MADRID E-PRIX: A BOLD STRATEGY POORLY REWARDED FOR DS AUTOMOBILES

• The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship continued in Madrid on Saturday with the sixth race of the season.
• Maximilian Günther eventually finished 13th, having led the race at one point. Taylor Barnard was classified 19th after a penalty.
• The next E-Prix will take place from May 2-3 at Berlin-Tempelhof Airport in Germany.

The Jarama circuit, located around 30 kilometres from the Spanish capital, hosted the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for the first time on Saturday.

As is often the case on a permanent track - which tends to be wider and more conducive to overtaking than a street circuit - strategy played a key role.

By choosing an aggressive approach, Maximilian Günther and the DS PENSKE AUTOSPORT team knew they were taking certain risks. Unfortunately though, these were ultimately not rewarded.

Starting from seventh on the grid, the German moved up to second after all competitors had cycled through the pit lane for their mandatory PIT BOOST stop, which allows drivers to recover an additional 10% of energy.

By activating his “Attack Mode” immediately after his own pit stop, Max even took the lead of the race on lap 17 of 23.

But the team had bet on an incident-filled race, as was the case in free practice, and no neutralisations materialised to slow the pace. As a result, Maximilian could do nothing against his rivals who chose to activate their “Attack Mode” in the closing minutes. He was shuffled down the pack and eventually took the flag in 13th place.

His teammate Taylor Barnard experienced one of the most difficult races of his young Formula E career.

After a good start from 15th on the grid, the Brit fought his way into the top 10. However, an overly ambitious move on a rival earned him a penalty, which meant he could do no better than 19th place in the final classification.

While the Spanish round was particularly frustrating for DS Automobiles, the team remains extremely motivated. All eyes are now on Germany: specifically Berlin-Tempelhof Airport, where the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will host a double-header on May 2 and 3.

Maximilian Günther:

“I feel like we delivered a good race, but we were lacking in performance and efficiency. I led the race for a bit after my pit stop, but I wasn’t able to hold onto it. We tried everything, but in the end it wasn’t enough to achieve the result we were hoping for. Over the weekend as a whole we had a good qualifying session and then drove a good race, but it just didn’t work out.”

Taylor Barnard:

“Madrid obviously didn’t bring the results the team and I were expecting, as we didn’t score any points. I think we had decent pace at the start of the weekend on a wet track. In the actual race, Max struggled to keep up with the pace of our rivals. From my side things were going quite well, then there was that incident. The penalty that followed ruined our race. It’s obviously disappointing, but we’re going to work hard to come back even stronger in Berlin.”

Key figures since DS Automobiles entered Formula E:

• 143 races
• 4 championship titles
• 18 victories
• 55 podiums
• 26 pole positions

PRESS CONTACTS

DS Performance : Nathalie Dumas  +33 (0) 6 60 26 10 37 –nathalie.dumas@external.stellantis.com

DS Automobiles : Benjamin Maigre  + 33 (0) 6 75 58 80 41 – benjamin.maigre@dsautomobiles.com