ABT CUPRA Formula E Team‘s return to the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is certainly getting no easier, after a really difficult weekend at the Diriyah E-Prix double-header.
ABT’s return to the all-electric series certainly isn’t going as well as they would’ve liked, with the Germans most definitely finding themselves as the backmarker team. Given how late their entry into the first season of Gen3 was announced, their lack of pace shouldn’t necessarily come as a surprise; however, the issue is that the list compiling the team’s problems “is getting longer”.
Surprisingly, one of the team’s smallest issues of last weekend was getting rookie Kelvin van der Linde up to speed, with the South African having been brought in to replace the injured Robin Frijns. Given that it was his first single-seater race, let alone Formula E race, he performed remarkably well. Van der Linde showed consistent progression throughout the weekend, and went on to finish sixteenth in Race One and eighteenth in Race Two.
He was actually the better of the two ABT Cupra drivers despite his complete lack of experience, with Team Principal Thomas Biermaier having praised the sport’s first-ever South African for his overall attitude.
“Compliments to Kelvin – not only for his performance here in Diriyah, but also for his diligent preparation over the past week and a half.”
On the other side of the garage, Nico Mueller had a nightmare weekend, with the Swiss driver having missed qualifying ahead of Race One following a collision with a wall, before retiring from both races. His retirement in Race One was as a result of damage that remained on the car following his brush with the barrier, whilst his retirement from the second race at the Riyadh Street Circuit was due to crashing at Turn Eighteen.
It really was an eye-opening weekend for the team who appear to be firmly aware of their unfortunate position, of being the only team on the grid not to have scored a point yet. Biermaier himself has admitted that it’s “becoming increasingly clear” that the start of the Gen3 era is going to be a “major challenge” for the returning outfit, especially with the team’s powertrain suppliers having also struggled in Saudi Arabia.
“We are disappointed with our performance here in Saudi Arabia, as we had hoped for a clear upward trend after the season opener. The list of issues and tasks we need to work through is getting longer, but the short gaps between races remain – it’s becoming increasingly clear that this season will be a major challenge. Not only for us, but also for the two sister cars of the Mahindra team, as we have seen here once again.”
