Stoffel Vandoorne felt winning race two of the Rome ePrix on Sunday made up for what happened in race one on Saturday, with the Belgian having crashed out of the first race whilst taking avoiding action around the slowing Lucas di Grassi.
The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver had a strong weekend in Rome, qualifying on pole position for race one before being spun around by Andre Lotterer on the first racing lap, and after climbing from thirteenth to run fifth, he hit a raised manhole cover whilst attempting to get around di Grassi and spun into the barrier and into retirement.
However, the team fixed his car overnight and the Belgian was able to qualify third on the grid, and despite a few early battles and a late safety car intervention, Vandoorne was able to take his second career FIA Formula E victory and move himself back into contention for the championship.
“What an amazing victory! It makes up for what happened yesterday to some extent,” said Vandoorne. “Winning today’s race sure feels good.
“Yesterday was a real roller-coaster of emotions. First off, pole position and then our great pace followed by the incident on the first lap and subsequent charge through the field to catch up, and then finally; the accident when I had to avoid Lucas. It was all pretty frustrating, and we probably already should have gotten good results yesterday.“
Vandoorne was full of praise for his mechanics and engineers for giving him the car and the strategy to win in Rome, and he was able to draw away from second placed Alexander Sims on the final lap restart by using his fanboost.
“To end the weekend on such a high today feels fantastic. I would like to thank everyone in the team and especially my mechanics, who had their work cut out to get the car fixed after the accident. But everything was just perfect today, including the team’s strategy, which helped me get the drop on Sims.
“I wasn’t sure what to expect during the safety car period just before the end but still had fan boost, so I could defend my position. It didn’t feel exactly great after comfortably being in the lead, but I didn’t put a foot wrong over the final lap and managed to secure the win, which is what counts in the end.”
