Nelson Piquet Jr said he was delighted to have had such a strong race on his debut for Panasonic Jaguar Racing.
He finished fifth in the first round of the Hong Kong ePrix, but was promoted to fourth after Maro Engel was given a penalty after the race.
Piquet made the switch from NIO to Jaguar this year as he thought they stood a better chance of letting him compete for wins again.
And that decision looks like it will pay dividends as he ran strongly throughout the race, and was even able to pull off an audacious move on the Mahindra Racing car of Felix Rosenqvist in the closing laps.
Afterwards he thanked his team for their efforts, and said it was encouraging to be running in the points so early on in the season.
“It’s great to be back racing and to be competing in the points in our first race is encouraging,” Piquet said.
“We are trying to keep realistic about our results as it’s a long season ahead but in general we did a great job. The team can take a lot of positives from today including the pace and efficiency of the I-TYPE 2.
“The race was quite hectic, so I’m very happy to have secured the result I did today, and look forward to getting back on track tomorrow.”
Team-mate Mitch Evans had a disappointing race in the sister Jaguar car.
Things were looking good for the New Zealander when he topped the second practice session, but he started last on the grid after his team sent him out too late to set a qualifying lap.
Evans said that he was still able to set some good lap times though, and is looking to bounce back tomorrow.
He said, “The day started really well, and it was great to finish top of the second practice session.
“There were some timing issues in qualifying which lead to starting the race in nineteenth position, and then the restart on the second lap, which meant today’s race was frustrating.
“The car feels good, and I was setting some good lap times so I’m hopeful for a better result tomorrow.”
