The tenth round of the 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season in New York City concluded with Nyck de Vries in 13th place and Stoffel Vandoorne retiring from the race with a puncture

• Nyck was assigned to the first qualifying group and was fourth fastest in his group. The track then improved steadily as qualifying progressed, resulting in Nyck starting the race from P18 on the grid.
• Nyck was hit from behind shortly after the start and was unable to avoid hitting the car in front of him. This caused damaged to his own car, compromising the balance. During the 38-lap race, he still managed to gain five positions and ultimately cross the finish line in P13.
• Stoffel started in the second qualifying group but had to settle for P21 on the grid after brushing against the wall in the last sector.
• In the race, Stoffel gained several positions before he had to retire his car following a puncture.
• After the tenth race of the current campaign, DS Techeetah (128 points) lead the team championship, closely followed by Virgin Racing (124 points) and Audi (115 points). The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (113 points) has fallen back to fourth place.
• The eleventh round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will take place tomorrow, Sunday (start time 18:34 BST), once again on the New York City street circuit.

Ian James, Team Principal:

“It's great being in New York for two rounds of this championship. New York embodies everything you would expect from a host city to a Formula E event.

Today, however, has been a massively disappointing day for the whole team. We had a solid start to the weekend, showing good pace in the practice sessions. However, we put ourselves on the back foot through our qualifying performance, ultimately starting in P18 and P21. From there on you know it is going to be difficult to recover and score those – especially after the last couple of races - sought-after points.

Early damage for Nyck meant his race was compromised from the off, hampering his ability to fight his way to the front of the field. For Stoffel, a similar scenario played out when he made contact and had to retire from the race with a puncture.

All of this is particularly painful as we are starting to lose ground in both the teams' and drivers' championship. We came to New York as the leaders in the teams' standings – albeit with a tiny gap to our competitors. But, after having finished the first race here, we find ourselves in fourth position in the standings. It is another race in which we haven’t been able to optimise our performance; this is not meeting our expectations.

We will need to set it right tomorrow as it’s still all to play for. I’m glad we get a shot at it again in a second race here in NYC.”

Nyck de Vries:

“I guess it was just one of those days. As early as Lap 1, I got hit from behind. That’s happened to me three races in a row now. Although I tried to avoid the car in front of me, it was impossible. So, I hit the car in front and lost my right front fender, and from that point on, the balance was really compromised and the car was not nice to drive. It was a tough race after that. Although I brought the car through to the finish, I had no opportunity to compete with the other drivers and go on the attack.”

Stoffel Vandoorne:

“When it comes to my starting position today, I have only myself to blame. It was my mistake. I collided with the wall and then had a puncture as a result. The contact wasn’t all that hard to be honest; it was a normal brush, but it was enough to break the rim and cause a puncture. It was a shame, especially with me being in qualifying group 2. I think the lap was coming along pretty nicely, and there was definitely potential for me to reach the super pole session. Starting from P21 just makes the whole E-Prix a lot more difficult. During the race itself, I think I was lacking maybe a little bit of pace, although we were up on energy compared to the others. Our strategy from the back was to save a lot from the beginning and then try to come through the field. We made some progress, and then I got stuck in a bit of a train. There was some bunching up, and we got another puncture there with the front left. That was basically the story of our day: two punctures which were very costly for the end result. Pretty much a day to forget for us. I’m happy we can get another chance tomorrow.”

Round 11 – New York City E-Prix

When to watch

The team is back on track for round eleven of the 2020/21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship tomorrow, Sunday (start time 18:34 BST, 13:34 local time). Tune in at the following times to see the team in action:

Where to watch
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