Oliver Turvey put in one of his best Formula E performances in the Eternal City, battling from the back of the grid to seventh, as the NIO 333 driver seized upon the opportunity to secure his and the team’s first points of the season.
Describing his race as “Amazing”, Turvey feels that the Anglo-Chinese squad’s hard work has finally paid off as he made a remarkable comeback from 22nd and last to take the chequered flag classified in seventh position at the Rome E-Prix.
It marks his best result since finishing eighth in the 2021 Valencia E-Prix, ending a drought of thirteen consecutive races where the Englishman has failed to score points.
“Honestly, to start last in P22 and to come through to P7 was just an amazing race.” Explained the 35 year old to Formula E Zone on Sunday. “We just executed a perfect strategy.
“We saved energy at the beginning and we were fortunate with the safety car; that’s what we were hoping for! So it worked out well.
“Then we just used our energy that we’d saved at the beginning to overtake the cars ahead. I managed to pick my way through all the chaos; I think we used the energy in the perfect way and took attack mode at the right time.
“It was just a great feeling to be racing and moving forwards. To come home in P7 is just a fantastic result for the whole team.”
The result launches NIO 333 up to ninth in the team’s championship, just a point behind Nissan e.Dams in eighth, and Turvey feels grateful to secure six championship points for the team after three lean seasons in the Gen 2 era where the team had racked up just 26 points in total.
Moreover, Turvey was also delighted to see a positive performance from the entire team, considering that his stablemate Dan Ticktum also scored his maiden world championship point, and is optimistic that NIO 333 can build on the pace shown in final practice to improve their qualifying performances.
“It means a massive amount.” Replied Turvey when asked how important the result was for the team. “It’s tough to get points now in Formula E; it’s such a high level and such a competitive field, so you’ve got to take your opportunities when you get them. I felt last time in Mexico I had a chance to get points as well, so to get six points is a great result for the team.
“We’re trying lots of things every weekend, because there was limited testing between last season and this season, so free practice is always challenging when you’re testing new items on the car.
“I feel like this weekend we definitely seem to have moved in a good direction and found a bit more pace. There’s definitely still work to do: Hopefully we can keep on improving in the right direction, get better laps in qualifying, and be fighting for points every race weekend.”
Turvey will now look forward to the sixth round of Season 8 in one of the most challenging circuits on the calendar, as the FIA Formula E Championship will return to action on the 30th of April in Monaco.
