NextEV TCR driver Oliver Turvey says he is still aiming for race wins this season despite struggling with energy management in the Hong Kong ePrix.
His team arrived with an entirely new car for the opening round of the 2016-17 Formula E season, and it showed decent one lap pace as Turvey and Nelson Piquet Jnr locked out the front row of the grid.
However they fell back in the race with Turvey eventually finishing down in eighth place with Piquet Jnr in eleventh.
Speaking to The Checkered Flag about what had caused him to fall back through the field, Turvey said he struggled to hit his energy targets throughout the race.
Turvey said, “Obviously in the race the start went well, and in the first stint we were able to stay towards the front. I was struggling to hit the energy targets a bit, but I think we did a good strategy and pitted at the right time.
“When we came out of the pitstop we had a long stint which meant we had to save a lot of energy. To hit the energy targets was tough and in the second stint we lost some places at the end.
“We need to analyse it and look into it to see where we can improve because it’s a completely new package and a new team so there’s still things I think we can improve. In the race you have to make the most of the energy over the whole stint.”
Despite the end result, Turvey said the new car was clearly a step up from last year’s package, and was thankful that the effort the team had put in to developing it had paid off.
“Going into Hong Kong we knew we’d made a good step forwards form last season, I think the car was clearly a lot better than last year,” he said.
“It’s a completely different car, a complete redesign from the season two car, and a big step in terms of performance.
“The team put a big effort into the whole package, there have been a lot of changes within the team and they’ve put in a lot of effort in the last six months to a year.”
This progress has left Turvey confident that they will be able to keep up with their rivals, and challenge for wins.
The Brit said, “I think NextEV have put a big effort into this season’s car and they want to be one of the serious manufacturers in the championship.
“We want to win races and win the championship. We want to be fighting against all the manufacturers.
“We need to just keep on improving and working together to try and maximise everything we have. To try and get the first win as soon as possible is my aim.”
