BMW Motorsport Director Jens Marquardt has said that the German marque’s victory on their Formula E debut was the achievement he is ‘particularly proud of’ in 2018.
When asked about his highlights from the year, Marquardt said that BMW i Andretti Motorsport winning their first ever race ‘made history’, and that he was hopeful of a positive result after testing.
Both Alexander Sims and Antonio Felix da Costa set a searing pace in the pre-season run out, topping the timesheets on each day.
And Da Costa duly converted the potential that the BMW iFE.18 had shown by winning from reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne at the Ad Diriyah ePrix.
It was a remarkable turnaround for the outfit that had finished bottom of last year’s standings before BMW took control of the team for this season.
Speaking about the achievement Jens Marquardt said, “António Félix da Costa’s win in our very first Formula E race stands out in particular.
“BMW is just starting to race with fully-electric cars, and we won at the first attempt. Thus, we made BMW Motorsport history this year.
“The first competitive appearance with a new race car like the BMW iFE.18 is always particularly exciting, even more so when you consider that our Formula E debut was a historic event.”
Marquardt said that the achievement was made all the more special as it was BMW’s first event single-seater outing in nearly a decade.
He commented, “It also marks our return to single-seater racing after an absence of nearly ten years. We already had a good feeling after the tests.
“We hoped that our BMW i drivetrain would be competitive right from the start and the season-opener in Ad Diriyah showed just that.
“António Félix da Costa clinched pole position and then victory in the very first Formula E race for BMW i Andretti Motorsport. That was the perfect way to round off our 2018 season and the perfect start to our Formula E project.”
