Jean-Eric Vergne revelled in Techeetah claiming the first ever 1-2 finish in Formula E history, but accepted he was “extremely lucky” to escape contact with team-mate Andre Lotterer.
Vergne controlled proceedings from pole position at the Santiago ePrix but came under pressure in the second stint from Lotterer, who had overhauled Jaguar’s Nelson Piquet Jr. prior to the pit phase.
Lotterer challenged Vergne, the pair perilously running side-by-side, before nudging the Frenchman under braking for Turn 3, though both made it through the corner, maintaining their positions without sustaining damage.
Vergne ultimately resisted Lotterer’s threat and opened his 2017/18 win account, in the process snatching the points lead from Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist.
“I qualified first and won the race, it cannot get any better,” said Vergne.
“I think the first stint was really good and then after a few laps in the second car my lap trigger activated one extra lap.
"I have no idea how it happened but, basically I was doing the race one lap longer – that’s why I had a huge amount of pushing from my team-mate Andre who was then on a different strategy.
“It was fair racing – at one point we did collide but there was nothing really we could do, I decided to go on the inside and he went differently so we just collided.
“I think we had eight wheels locked actually, so I’m extremely lucky. It’s the first 1-2 in the history of Formula E!”
For Lotterer, second place marked his first points in Formula E, as Techeetah moved into the lead of the Teams’ standings.
“I’m extremely happy about this – the first two races probably looked worse than they were but it was promising on pace in the race, and I only tested three days in Valencia, so it takes time,” he said.
“These guys have a lot of experience, and there are no bad drivers. I’ve been working hard, the team has helped me a lot to do some work in the simulator, I’m really happy to be JEV’s team-mate as he’s helped me a lot as well.
“I’ve had pace all weekend, in qualifying it went well, I may have hit the wall a bit but I went for it, so that’s what matters!
“At one stage we lost radio, so I didn’t know what the game was so I tried overtaking him and got so close and nearly didn’t make the corner, but that’s what I’m still learning – how to calculate everything.”
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