Norman Nato is targeting back-to-back points finishes this weekend at the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix, with the Frenchman having scored his first points of the season last time out in Hyderabad.
In India, Nato managed to finish seventh and also claimed the fastest lap of the race, giving him some confidence ahead of this weekend’s fifth round of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. This weekend’s venue in South Africa is expected to be the fastest on the calendar this year, with the Nissan Formula E Team driver expecting it to therefore “be challenging to put a lap together”.
Nato is hoping to take another “step forward” in Cape Town with something having been found in India, with the ambition being for further points this weekend.
“Cape Town is a brand-new track on the calendar and it is expected to be the fastest of the season, so it will be challenging to put a lap together with all the high-speed sections and the bumps. We’ve scored points in the last two races and are continuing to improve as a team, but we are hungry for more. Taking a step forward and scoring with both cars is the target so we’ve been working hard in the simulator to optimize our performance.”
“The high speed corners will make it challenging” – Sacha Fenestraz
On the other side of the Nissan garage, rookie Sacha Fenestraz will be hoping to make up for his “very unfortunate” race in Hyderabad, where he had a potential podium stolen from him.
Fenestraz was one of the drivers caught up by Sam Bird‘s huge error at Turn Three, where multiple drivers were forced to momentarily stop due to having been blocked. The Frenchman was on-track for a big haul of points, having started the race in fourth; however, following Bird’s error, Fenestraz finished twelfth.
After qualifying so well in Hyderabad, Fenestraz is targeting another good qualifying in Cape Town, with the rookie expecting overtaking to be “tough”. Similar to India, though, he will be starting on a level playing field, given that it’s the all-electric series first time in South Africa. This fact gives him “confidence”, that he can enjoy a good weekend from start to finish.
“It’s going to be a very interesting track, it’s set to be the fastest of the season. Overtaking looks like it will be tough, which makes qualifying extra important this weekend. Our pace in the last two races has been getting stronger and obviously we were very unfortunate in Hyderabad. We’ve been improving throughout each event this season, so we’ve got a good chance to score plenty of points in Cape Town.
“The high speed corners will make it challenging, but being a brand-new track it also gives me confidence as a rookie, as once again nobody has driven here before. I’m looking forward to the weekend and hopefully we can achieve a positive result!”
