Reigning Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne has said that the Ad Diriyah E-Prix was "just a taster" of DS Techeetah's Season Five package.
Vergne, who took his first motorsport title since the 2010 British Formula 3 Championship in the Season Four campaign of the all-electric single seater series, finished the opening round of the 2018/19 season on the podium, taking second place.
Starting from fifth, Vergne battled his way through the field, overtaking HWA Racelab's Stoffel Vandoorne, Jose Maria Lopez and Season Two champion Sebastien Buemi to move into second place.
Closing up onto the back of BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa, Vergne took the lead with 26 minutes of racing time remaining.
Suffering from an overuse of power under regeneration, the Frenchman was handed a drive-through penalty which dropped him down to fifth in the running order.
A late-race safety car following a suspension failure for Lopez resulted in the pack being backed up behind da Costa who continued to lead while Vergne lay in third in the running-order after overtaking Buemi one lap earlier.
Deploying his final use of Attack Mode on the restart, Vergne cleared the then second-placed Jerome d'Ambrosio before closing the gap to da Costa, although the Frenchman was ultimately unable to find a way past the Portuguese racer on the final lap, settling for second place.
“I would like to say a huge thanks to the whole team for this race but also for the lead up to this moment," said Vergne. "This was just a taster of what is to come from DS Techeetah.
"The course was so much fun to drive, it was like walking on a cloud out there. I’m very pleased that the FIA and Formula E took our feedback around Attack Mode on board after the Drivers’ Briefing as it made a very good race.
"I’m very proud to be part of a championship that keeps innovating and re-inventing itself like this. We put on a great show and as we aim for more podiums and our first win of the season, I’m confident that we will continue to deliver some very exciting racing for the rest of the championship.
"We’re going to absorb all the lessons, continue in this spirit and come back for more,” he added.
With Andre Lotterer finishing in fifth place in the first race of the season after also being handed a drive-through penalty for the same offence as Vergne, DS Techeetah currently lead the Teams' Championship with a 1 point advantage over BMW, with Lotterer also securing fastest lap.
Formula E will return on January 12 for the Marrakesh E-Prix.
