The Trulli team was a late addition to the Formula E grid in the spring of last year. The Trulli team started eight months behind the other nine teams on the grid and team owner and driver Jarno Trulli is happy with the start of the season his team has made, despite some early struggles.
“Overall it has been a difficult start to the season for us, but the team is working hard and doing their job well and if we continue like this then we should have a good season.” said Jarno.
The start of the season in Beijing did not go according to plan for Jarno Trulli, as his car suffered gearbox problems after a crash in qualifying. This left the Italian driver without a new gearbox for the race.
“The start of the season was not great for us. I could not start the race in Beijing because of a gearbox problem. During qualifying several drivers had a crash and at that time the gearbox was failing very easily and by the time I had crashed my car there was no gearbox left which stopped me from starting the race.” said the Italian driver.
However, in Putrajaya the team had a much better outing on track, but the team was unable to take advantage of there pace as Trulli was handed with a drive through penalty, whilst he was in second position for using more power than he was allowed.
“The second race was better for us, as we were running in second place, but I made a mistake which was penalised for using too much power than I was allowed in the car. It was a mistake on my half, as I didn’t manage the inside of the cockpit well enough. This was a real shame as we were looking at our first podium and points of the season.” said Trulli.
However, Trulli did not have to wait long for his first points of the season. In Punta Del Este, the race day finally came together for the team as Jarno finish in fourth position. But Trulli admitted that the race was not as easy as it looked from outside the cockpit.
“In the third race in Punta, its was a difficult race for us . It was not easy because I was struggling with one of my cars as I was not getting the full amount of power from the car. This is why I was holding people off in order to keep my fourth position. It was great that I finished fourth, as we didn’t make any mistakes, even though there are a few reliability problems with this car during the race.”
Once the team got to Argentina, the gremlins had seemed to return to the team. Trulli was uncomfortable with the balance of the car throughout the day, which eventually caused a crash in qualifying. It took an almighty effort by his machines to fix the car in time.
“In Argentina I made a mistake during qualifying. The team did a great job in fixing the car. I actually started the race with my second car, as my first car was still being fixed by the mechanics in the garage. Thankfully they finished just in time for me to come in and change my car. Despite where we were on the grid the race was going pretty well for us. When I changed for the car the mechanics had just fixed, it was not long until there was a problem on that car, which was unfortunate. For some reason the battery was down on power again and that is why I could not finish the race. But I am very thankful for the job my team did for getting that car out again.” said the 40 year old.
Trulli will be hoping to build on the positive performance the team had in Putrajaya when we get back to the track on March 14 in Miami
