MS Amlin Andretti claimed their best overall points haul from a single round since season one of the Formula E Championship in Hong Kong after Antonio Felix da Costa and Robin Frijns brought home 18 points for the American team.
Frijns thanked his Andretti team after he thought his day was over following a massive crash in qualifying, leaving a huge repair job for the team.
Facing a race against time, the American team were able to rebuild Frijns’ car in time for the race and thanks to strategy Frijns was able to avoid the chaos on the opening lap and finished the race in sixth place despite starting last.
“It’s truly positive today,” said Frijns. “Eight or nine guys were working on my car for two hours straight. They didn’t have a lot of lunch, so I’m paying for the beers I think!
“I started dead last and coasted a lot in my first car, especially at the beginning of the race, because I thought I would just let everyone go and just do my thing.”
The plan to coast in the first car allowed Frijns to pit a lap later than everyone else, which enabled him to go for it in the second car.
“I went one lap longer than anyone else [in the first stint], boxed and then I was able to push for the entire second stint and jumped back to P6,” Frijns added.
Frijns’ new teammate for season three and Formula E veteran, Antonio Felix da Costa had a slightly better overall day as he brought his Andretti home in fifth place after qualifying 13th.
“I have to say, in qualifying, I didn’t deliver a good enough lap due to bad circumstances. I knew we could go forward in the race, and that’s what we did.”
The Portuguese driver then went on to applaud the Andretti team for their work this weekend: “I have to say the engineers played a major role today and the team as a whole – repairing Robin’s car and bringing two cars home with double points. I’m happy with that. We know we have issues to fix, but I think with the good people we have we will fix them.”
