The first race of the Formula E London E-Prix weekend went well for Taylor Barnard, as the DS Penske driver stormed from P12 to a strong P5 finish.
After a qualifying session that did not go quite right for Barnard, Saturday’s race saw him line up 12th on the grid. The Briton quickly got to work, getting his elbows out to battle his way through the field. Similarly, luck was on his side as incidents ahead of him cleared the way for Barnard to climb up the pack.
Speaking to Motorsport Week in the media pen, Barnard described the race as ‘not too bad’. The DS Penske team have been hit with their fair share of bad luck this year, yet they have also had strong performances and brilliant moments. Race 1 proved to be another solid performance from the British driver.
“Quite a good one for once. We’ve been on the right side of things for once this year. We managed to do some of the pit boosts in the full course yellow, which helped us out a little bit. Like I said, it’s one of the first times this year we’ve actually been on the good side of things. So it’s nice to score some points. Not for free, but in a nice way for once. Yeah, P12 to P5 is not too bad.”
Barnard: ‘sit and wait for a crash’
Towards the end of the race, the field was once again ready to quarrel. With the race hitting its boiling point, several drivers went all in for their final efforts.
“To be honest, I kind of just sat back and waited for them to crash, that’s kind of my plan. I wasn’t quick enough to overtake them, especially on traction, we were struggling a bit. So my plan was just to sit and wait for a crash, and I got two places for free, so again, can’t complain.” Barnard explained when asked to talk through the battles.
The British driver believes that securing another result like today would be ‘difficult’. Despite this, he remains eager to chase more points in Race 2.
“Another P5 will be difficult. We can definitely qualify a bit better than we did today. There’s a little bit more pace in there somewhere, but another points finish has to be the target.”
Sunday’s race is set to be different from Saturday’s. Without the Pitboost, drivers will have to give their all to qualify at the front or be ready for chaos in the race, given the track’s nature.
Additionally, it opens up a larger window of opportunity for various strategies from the teams. Asked if climbing up the order would be difficult on Sunday without the pit boosts, Barnard explained that his focus was on qualifying.
“If we have a good qualifying, then it might benefit me. If not, then it might be a bit more difficult, but let’s see. Let’s do our job in qualifying first and then see how it goes.”
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