Oliver Rowland admitted after his podium last weekend at the Diriyah E-Prix that it was a “massive” relief, as it proved to himself that he “can do it”.
Rowland finished third in the second race of the double-header in Diriyah after starting from pole position. He made a disappointing start and was overtaken by Robin Frijns on the run into the first corner, before Nick Cassidy later found his way past.
The Nissan driver’s pace was quite good, but overtaking was simply too difficult. Despite it being his first rostrum since the Season 8 Seoul E-Prix, Rowland was actually “a little bit disappointed” not to win.
He believes that had he made a better start, then winning the race was possible. However, he knows that the team must “take confidence” from the result, especially when it’s taken into consideration that he finished 13th in the opening race in Diriyah.
“Yeah, it’s good. I mean, I’m a little bit disappointed, to be honest, because of the start. We could have controlled the race had we got a better start, but today we have to take confidence,” Rowland told Motorsport Week.
“The qualifying pace was incredible, and the race was good. So, yeah, very happy. The team needs to take confidence from it. I think the good thing is we understood what happened overnight, and it looks really positive for the future.”
Finishing on the podium was a huge moment for Rowland, who has had a deeply challenging couple of years at Mahindra Racing. Rowland suddenly departed Mahindra mid-season last year ahead of Jakarta, a decision which he didn’t make. Returning to Nissan was a bold decision, but is already proving to be the right one.
Rowland left Nissan at the end of Season 7 to join Mahindra, with being at the back of the grid last season having made him begin to doubt himself. His pole position last Saturday was an exceptional one, which left him feeling “quite emotional”.
“Massive,” he admitted, when asked if being back on the podium was a relief. “Honestly, when you have two difficult years like that, you start to doubt a lot of things. I was quite emotional after qualifying because you kind of recognise that you can do it again, and it’s a nice feeling.”
The Nissan-powered teams – Nissan and Neom McLaren – have looked so good in the early rounds of Season 10, to the point that McLaren had the best energy management in Saudi Arabia. Both sides were strong over one-lap in the opening campaign of the Gen3 era but they are now almost just as strong in the races.
Rowland recognises that progress has been made but he believes they’re not at the level of the “top guys” just yet.
“For sure, it’s made progress,” Rowland said. “We’re still not quite where the others are, let’s say the top guys. But I think if we can keep doing what we do over one-lap, we can hang in there in the race. We’ve already done a podium, so the next step has to be to try and win a race.
“Honestly, I think today we could have done that had I got a better start around this place. Yesterday weren’t amazing. But honestly, pre-season testing, I was one of the fastest, here again, Mexico, I was fast. Qualifying [on Friday] didn’t go my way. I think you’re going to see us at the front a lot in qualifying.
“Just keep working at the racing. But we know that there’s more coming for next year.”
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