Nissan e.dams' Oliver Rowland has said that he has exceeded his expectations for his rookie season in Formula E.
Rowland joined the all-electric Formula E series for Season 5 as a last-minute call-up for Nissan e.dams after Alexander Albon, who was originally set to race for the team in the 2018/19 campaign, received a Formula 1 drive from Toro Rosso, replacing Brendon Hartley.
In his debut season, Rowland has impressed, with the Briton outperforming team-mate Sebastien Buemi over the course of the first nine rounds of the season, taking three pole positions and two podium finishes.
Through his performances Rowland currently sits in eighth in the Drivers' Championship with 59 points, outscoring seasoned Formula E drivers including Envision Virgin Racing's Sam Bird and team-mate Buemi.
Examining his performances ahead of this weekend's Berlin E-Prix, Rowland said that his results this season have so far exceeded his initial expectations while the driver hinted at his desire for victory at the Flughafen Tempelhof Circuit following his Monaco podium two weeks ago:
“When I turned up for round one, I didn’t know what to expect, but my results so far have certainly exceeded my expectations," he said. "As a rookie, I have so much to learn and my teammate Sebastien [Buemi] has been so helpful in that regard.
“Even after a couple of podiums, I’m not taking anything for granted – the minute you start expecting to be at the front of the pack you can quickly find yourself back in the pack.
“Each race I put in the work – put in the laps on the simulator and try and soak up as much information as I can. Monaco was a great result, but now I want to go one better.”
Buemi, who has a proven track record in Berlin after claiming victory in Season 3, highlighted the race in the German capital as potentially tactical round, with practice taking place on Friday afternoon as opposed to Saturday morning, with this allowing teams to analyse data more intensely ahead of qualifying:
“Berlin is a unique circuit for the championship where I’ve had success before, and I’m really looking forward to heading back there this weekend," said the Season 2 champion.
“Monaco was a fierce battle for me, but I was pleased to come away with some good points. Berlin is going to be very different with the practice sessions run on Friday for the first time.
“That will allow everybody to do some homework overnight and I’m sure qualifying is going to be extremely competitive.
"Making the Super Pole session and then putting in a good lap is so important because even with Attack Mode and FanBoost, you still have to work extremely hard to move through the pack.”
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