Robin Frijns came home in an unexpected third position for Amlin Andretti at the Putrajaya ePrix, despite the car being almost undriveable for last few laps.
After a strong outing in qualifying, Frijns lined up 8th on the grid and was on for a decent points haul if he could just maintain his position throughout the race. But the events that followed couldn’t have been predicted by the wildest of imaginations.
As the final few laps started to the countdown, cars started going off left, right and centre whilst others found themselves stopping in the middle of the track due to battery issues. Frijns found himself approaching a slow moving Duval, so went to overtake him, but the move compromised the next turn and he gave the wall a hefty shunt at turn 10.
“Duval had a problem in front of me and he also had a suspension failure. I overtook him before Turn 9 and I went in just a bit too quick and there was a lot of rubber and dirt. I was on it and I saw the wall coming and I said, ‘this is it, it’s over’. It was quite a big hit and the rear was completely bent, the steering was totally not straight anymore,” said Frijns.
Despite the car crabbing down the straights, he was told on the radio to continue and salvage whatever he could with only a few laps remaining.
With his wounded car six seconds off the pace and limping around, it was more likely he was going to fall backwards rather than end up on the podium. However, after D’Ambrosio put his car into the wall, Sam Bird inherited second and Frijns brought his wounded Andretti home in third position. A result not many would have expected from an Andretti car this early on in the season following a difficult time in preseason testing, and nothing to really shout about after Beijing.
Talking about the last few laps in his wounded Andretti, Frijns said: “Right corners were fine but in left corners I really had to take it easy. But I’m surprised how strong the Formula E car is.”
Frijns also took to social media to express how shocked he was about finishing on the podium.
What can I say.. P3 on 3 wheels. Hit the wall with 3 laps to go. Managed to keep on going. Don't ask me how.. #RallyDriver?
— Robin Frijns (@RFrijns) November 7, 2015
