Edoardo Mortara heads into the fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship having found some consistency in recent rounds, with the Swiss driver entering the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix having claimed two consecutive points finishes.
Whilst his points finishes have only been ninth and tenth, he is showing “progress”, something he’s hoping for more of this weekend in South Africa. Mortara was unfortunate in Hyderabad last time out to not get more than a single point, after having entered the pits for a new front wing at the end of the second lap, after hitting Nick Cassidy accidently at Turn Three.
Given that he was last, then, as the third lap started, his recovery was exceptional; however, more than tenth was certainly on the cards had the collision not happened.
Despite this, the car’s pace was better, giving Mortara some confidence that further improvements can be made this weekend in Cape Town.
“Cape Town is our second new city of Season 9, and I’m looking forward to racing somewhere completely new and experiencing a new city and culture. In Hyderabad we demonstrated a little more pace over one lap so I’m hoping for more of the same progress this weekend.”
“It will be a great challenge to find the sweet spot” – Maximilian Günther
On the other side of the Maserati MSG Racing garage, Maximilian Günther also heads into this weekend having been massively unlucky in India, after being caught up in Sam Bird‘s mistake.
The Briton caused a car park on the outside of Turn Three after having ploughed into his team-mate, with Günther having been unfortunate enough to have gotten caught up in the mess. This incident ruined his race and resulted in the German scoring no points, despite having looked on-track for a potential top six beforehands.
Günther showed solid pace in Hyderabad and enters this weekend having made a step in the right “direction”, with the start of the year having been challenging for the Monte-Carlo-based team to say the least. The pre-season pacesetter is predicting another “exciting race” at what is the fastest circuit on the calendar, with Günther expecting it to be a “great challenge to find the sweet spot” in South Africa.
“Cape Town is an outstanding setting for a Formula E race and one of the races I was looking forward to the most ahead of the season. From the sim we can see the track is high-speed, with many fast and bumpy sections. It will be a great challenge to find the sweet spot with the settings and the driving around this track, we surely face an exciting race. From the last weekend I feel we are moving in a great direction, we just need to keep going like this and trust in our strong team.”
