Following a difficult weekend at the Santiago E-Prix, Mark Preston has said that his DS Techeetah team should be rewarded for their efforts, given their determination that ultimately translated into a disappointing result.
In Santiago, which marked the hottest race in Formula E's short history at 37°C, DS Techeetah experienced an uncharacteristically difficult weekend, with both Jean-Eric Vergne and Andre Lotterer finishing outside of the top 10.
This non-points scoring finish for the team was compounded by what was a gruelling qualifying session of track evolution, with both Vergne and Lotterer dropping from what was a 1-2 in Group 1 to 12th and 14th on the grid.
Fighting from the sixth and seventh rows of the grid, both Vergne and Lotterer were hunting for points, although as time passed in the 45-minute + 1 lap affair, overtaking became more difficult, with parts of the Parque O'Higgins Circuit breaking up due to its exposure to extreme conditions.
After getting rear-ended by Antonio Felix da Costa, Vergne was ultimately forced to retire from the race while for Lotterer, a power deration, caused by the overheating of his DS E-Tense FE19 car, forced him to drop back, finishing in 13th place.
“It wasn’t the race we had hoped for, unfortunately," said Preston, Team Principal of DS Techeetah, with the team's scoring streak of 20 races coming to a close at the Chilean capital.
"Jean-Éric [Vergne] suffered an early retirement due to a technical issue following damage to his car. André [Lotterer] sadly lost the points he fought so hard to earn as he too suffered an issue.
"André’s car overheated towards the end of the race, so he had to fall back in order to finish the race, which we are going to investigate thoroughly.
“It’s disheartening to be one and two in your qualifying group and still start in P12 and P14 on the grid," he continued.
"The team is doing such an amazing job and they should be rewarded for it. Nevertheless, we have two very strong drivers and two very quick cars, so we will be back fighting in Mexico.”
After three races so far this season, DS Techeetah currently holds third place in the Teams' Championship with 47 points while Vergne and Lotterer occupy third and eighth in the Drivers' Standings.
Formula E's 2018/19 campaign will continue on February 16 with the Mexico City E-Prix and will be joined by the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY.
