It was an eventful time for Antonio Felix da Costa at the Putrajaya ePrix, as he went from being a podium contender to salvaging as many points as possible.
Da Costa surprisingly put his Aguri 4th on the grid during qualifying, which effectively became third after Sarrazin had to start from the pit lane following issues at the start.
The Portuguese driver found himself battling for a podium position up until the last few laps when software issues saw da Costa slow down momentarily (twice) before he was able to reboot his car successfully and was left to chase down the ground he had lost.
Speaking about the result, da Costa said: “It’s a very positive result for us. It was great to fight closely with Renault e.dams and the Abt cars. It was a good battle despite the fact that we don’t have the straight-line speed, even though we’re running less downforce. That makes every move a big risk because you have to come from a long way back.
“With a few laps to go, my car had an issue and I had to power cycle the car twice in half a lap. All the chances I had to score a podium went away then; second was more than safe and I feel like I could even have challenged for the race win. To get into Super Pole was a really big bonus. We showed that we have the pace to fight for podiums, which is a good feeling going forward.”
