BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa has said that he won't give up on his championship aspirations until the chequered flag waves at next month's New York City E-Prix.
After 10 races this season, da Costa currently occupies fourth in the Drivers' Standings and with 87 points still on offer in the final three races of Formula E's present campaign, the top 16 in the championship still stand a mathematical chance of taking the crown.
20 points behind leader Jean-Eric Vergne, da Costa is one of this season's frontrunners following previous struggles with Andretti during Formula E's first generation, with this marking the Portuguese racer's first title challenge in the all-electric single-seater series.
Fourth place at the Berlin E-Prix two weeks ago saw da Costa secure his highest finishing position since Sanya, with this allowing the driver to get his campaign back on track, although disqualification from the Monaco E-Prix is still a bitter pill to swallow for the driver – more bitter than Marrakesh where da Costa crashed out from the lead:
"The disqualification from Monaco really hurt me to be honest, more than Marrakesh," da Costa told Motorsport Week. "Marrakesh was the beginning of the year and we lost points while fighting for a win.
"That happens over a championship but the points that we lost in Monaco with that P6, those would have been very, very valuable for me.
"To gain 20 points on anyone is hard but to gain 20 points on Vergne is harder. It’s going to be hard but I’ll never, ever give up until the flag in New York.
"[In Berlin] we saw Andre [Lotterer] scoring no points. Tomorrow it can be him, it can be me, whatever. We’ll keep believing and keep doing our best.”
Formula E's Season 5 campaign will continue next weekend in Switzerland for the inaugural Bern E-Prix on June 22.
