Dan Ticktum proved at the season-opening round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship that NIO 333 Racing will not be the backmarkers in Gen3, with the British driver having shown incredible pace at the Mexico City E-Prix.
Having spent virtually the entirety of the Gen2 era at the back of the field, NIO came out of the blocks with a bang at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, with the team perhaps being an underdog for a few podiums this season.Ticktum showed great speed throughout the Mexico City E-Prix and even managed to make it to the duels in qualifying, where he was unfortunately knocked out in the Quarter-Finals.
The British driver started the race from fifth and looked comfortable in the top five, before everything went wrong. Ticktum saw a possible points finish taken from him, with the NIO driver having been awarded a penalty for a power spike on the dummy grid, something that wasn’t his fault. When he emerged from the pits after serving his penalty, he’d fallen to last.
Ticktum ultimately ended the race as the last-running driver but was still “so happy” with how the opening weekend panned out, after taking the unlucky penalty on the chin.
“If you look at our season last year, to be straight into the duels in the opening round is very positive. It’s quite difficult to put a lap together in the Gen3, it’s a very different car to the Gen2, but I managed to put a good lap in qualifying and then again in the duels, it was just a shame I was paired with Jake Hughes, as he was the fastest out of all the drivers, overall I’m pretty happy with the pace we showed.
“Unfortunately in the race once we had the penalty for something that was out of my control, that was it for our race, however you have to expect some issues especially in the first race of the season and with a new car. I’m so happy with the speed we had, and that’s a very good sign for the season ahead, so I can’t wait to be out again in Riyadh.”
“We can achieve some great things this season” – Sérgio Sette Câmara
It wasn’t just Ticktum who looked really good at NIO, as new team-mate Sérgio Sette Câmara also demonstrated brilliant pace throughout the bulk of the weekend in Mexico City. The Brazilian had been towards the top during Free Practice but agonisingly missed-out on a spot in the duels by just a tenth, following a mistake on his last lap.
Without the mistake, the Brazilian driver would’ve topped his group, but instead he was forced to start from thirteenth. The race ended up being an uneventful one for Sette Câmara, who struggled to overtake anybody ahead of him. His chances of making a late charge were also slim, with the NIO driver having been forced to drive conservatively in the closing stages, due to a lack of energy.
In the end, he finished one place above his team-mate in sixteenth, marking a disappointing end to the race for him and the team. Despite finishing at the back, Sette Câmara is certain that the team “can achieve some great things” in 2023, with the car certainly looking quick.
“The practice sessions were very positive and I was third in both sessions. Then during qualifying we went with an aggressive strategy, where I had just a few laps to do a time. I only had three attempts, and the first one was not very representative as it was at the beginning of the session. The last two attempts were the ones that really mattered, and on one I had traffic, and on the other I made a mistake which cost me about three tenths which would have been enough to be P1 in my group.
“I hoped to move forward in the race, and as it was the first race for the new Gen3 car we expected there could be some crashes and reliability issues, but most of those happened behind me. Then towards the end of the race I had an energy deficit so I lost a few places.
“We showed that we were competitive this weekend with my pace, and also with Dan qualifying very well. We have to look at the data to understand what we can do from the driving and car side so we can put it all together in Riyadh. I’m sure if we keep this qualifying performance and improve our race pace we can achieve some great things this season.”
