Munich. MS Amlin Andretti didn’t score the results it had
hoped for in round three of the 2016/2017 FIA Formula E
Championship, held in Buenos Aires (ARG). The two MS Amlin Andretti
ATEC-002 finished outside the points in the Buenos Aires ePrix: BMW
works driver António Félix da Costa (PRT) came 11th, and
Robin Frijns (NLD) placed 14th.
The Qualifying
It was a tough day from the start in Argentina. After problems in
practice meant little running, Félix da Costa could manage only
17th, with a time of 1:13.326 minutes, after an on-track
incident. Frijns fared a little better, managing 13th best
time – 1:10.172 minutes.
The Race
With their midfield starting positions, it was tough for the two
Andretti cars to make progress. Mired in traffic in the first stint,
the heat left little room for any clever strategy with energy
efficiency. Both drivers pitted at the half distance mark, lap 19, and
despite some penalties and drama, there wasn’t quite enough pace for
points in Argentina. Félix da Costa enjoyed a late-race surge and
improved to 11th, – six places higher than he started – but
Frijns suffered towards the race’s conclusion and could manage only
14th. The team were pleased to see both cars finish the
race despite a hot race in Buenos Aires. Sébastien Buemi (SUI) won the
race, for the eDams Renault team.
The Reactions
António Félix da Costa, MS Amlin Andretti: “This is a
track that historically has been pretty good for me, having won here
in the past and then last year running second until we had some
problems. I was looking forward to this race, but today I made things
a little harder on us with the crash in FP1 – sorry to the MS Amlin
Andretti crew for that. We tried to come back from that, but then I
made another mistake in qualifying and we had some small issues with
the battery. We struggled today. I think sometimes we need bad days
like this to do big steps forward. That’s what I’m hoping for going to Mexico.”
Robin Frijns, MS Amlin Andretti: “The day started OK.
In the race, we were able to keep our position with the start, and
then I tried to hold it while I saved as much energy as possible.
Unfortunately, we just couldn’t follow the guys surrounding us, so it
was a difficult race. We’re going to review things, but are looking
ahead to Mexico City. We need to learn from this and hopefully we’ll
get some good information to move forward.”
The BMW i Vehicle Fleet
For Season 3, BMW i remains the “Official Vehicle Partner” for the
FIA Formula E Championship. The BMW i8 (fuel consumption combined: 2.1
l/100 km / 134.5 mpg imp; CO2 emissions combined: 49 g/km) will
continue as the high-performance, efficient Safety Car in Formula E.
The same goes for the BMW i3 (energy consumption combined: 12.9 kWh;
CO2 emissions combined: 0 g/km), which is the “Medical Car” and “Race
Director Car” and for the BMW X5 xDrive40e (fuel consumption combined:
3.4–3.3 l/100 km / 83.1–85.6 mpg imp; CO2 emissions combined: 78–77
g/km; figures based on the EU test cycle, may vary depending on the
tyre format specified), which functions as the “Rescue Car” or
“Extrication Car”.
The Outlook
The next race for MS Amlin Andretti and BMW i will be the Mexico City
ePrix on 1st April. The fourth race of the season will see
the FIA Formula E teams take to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez –
part baseball stadium, part race track and home of Formula One’s
Mexican Grand Prix.