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Edoardo Mortara
Practice 3 // P17
Qualifying // P15
Race // P9
Championship // P9 [32 points]
Norman Nato
Practice 3 // P6
Qualifying // P6
Race // P5
Championship // P23 [11 points]
ROKiT Venturi Racing
Championship // P9 [43 points]
Following a challenging opening race in Spain, ROKiT Venturi Racing returned to the Circuit Ricardo Tormo to contest the second leg of the double-header Valencia E-Prix.
In the face of a damp practice session, the team continued to show promising pace before heading into qualifying for the sixth race of Season 7.
A victim of ever-improving track conditions, Edoardo Mortara secured P15 on the grid while from Group 4, Norman Nato progressed to the Super Pole shootout, qualifying a competitive P6.
When the 45-minute + 1 lap event got underway, both drivers made immediate gains, with Norman progressing to P4 and Edo to P12 by the end of the opening lap.
With energy management proving to be critical in the face of high consumption, both drivers found a fine balance between pushing and conserving to remain in the fight.
By overtaking Oliver Turvey, Norman advanced into the podium positions in P3 as Edo passed the second NIO 333 of Tom Blomqvist to move into the points.
Light contact between Norman and Alex Lynn handed the Frenchman a five-second time penalty before he moved up to P2, with Edo progressing to P8.
Conserving enough energy, Norman launched a flat-out offensive on leader Jake Dennis on the final lap of the race, but was ultimately unable to overtake the Briton, only 0.8-seconds shy.
Despite taking P2 when the chequered flag waved, Norman unfortunately finished in P5 as a result of his post-race time penalty, taking his first points finish in Formula E.
Showcasing a masterful recovery drive, Edo gained an impressive six positions to take P9, with ROKiT Venturi Racing netting 12 points in total.
“We executed the strategy very well as a team today. Both Edo and Norman delivered strong performances to score our first double points finish of the season and again, we showed the potential of our Season 7 package. It was a shame for Norman to pick up a five-second time penalty which meant he wasn’t able to stand on the podium for the second race weekend in a row. He deserved P2 but I’m condifent that his time will come very soon. A result like this before our home race is very encouraging and now, our full focus moves to the Monaco E-Prix in two weeks time where we’ve had success as a team in the past.”
“We had a difficult race today starting from the back. On the opening lap, I made up some positions but I was pushed wide which cost me some time. Overall, I think it was a good comeback drive. We had good pace and the team executed the strategy well which meant we had more energy than the cars around us at the end. Considering where we started from, P9 is a good result.”
“On a drying track, qualifying from Group 4 was a big advantage and this placed us in a very strong position to challenge in the race. After yesterday, it was incredibly important to manage our energy consumption throughout which we were able to do. Everyone was in the same position with conservation and when I was in P3, Dennis slowed massively which caused the pack to bunch up. This caught me off guard and I applied the brakes as soon as possible but I touched Alex [Lynn] and he went off the track. It wasn’t on purpose and I’m really sorry it happened. It was a shame to get the penalty because it cost us another podium today which is difficult to swallow. There are still a lot of positives – the car felt great, we had strong pace and we were able to fight for the win today, which is very good before our home race in Monaco.”
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