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The 2021 Diriyah E-Prix was a historic event and as Season 7 finally got underway, we raced at night for the very first time.
597 low-consumption LED floodlights illuminated this duel in the desert and put the spotlight on Formula E’s opening races as an FIA-sanctioned World Championship.
Our bold black and white livery was even more striking than usual under lights and as such, we hope to see more night races on the calendar in the future.
After joining ROKiT Venturi Racing all the way back in Season 5 as our Reserve Driver, Norman Nato has been waiting for a very long time to take to the Formula E grid.
As a full-time driver for Season 7, however, Norman’s dream to race in the world’s premier all-electric racing series finally came true on Friday night.
Showcasing encouraging pace over his first-ever competitive Formula E race weekend, we can’t wait to see what Norman can achieve this season!
After an impressive run in qualifying for the opening round of the season, Edoardo Mortara lined up in P4 on the grid and was therefore in the perfect position to challenge for the top three.
The Swiss-Italian maintained position over the opening laps but when Rene Rast and Pascal Wehrlein began to fight it out for P2, he soon set his sights on the podium.
On lap 13, Edo activated Attack Mode to briefly drop down to P5 but with a temporary 35kW power advantage, the street circuit specialist was on a charge.
In a breathtaking move, Edo overtook both Mitch Evans and Wehrlein in one daring dart, leaving mere millimetres between himself and the Jaguar-Porsche pairing.
This overtake was quickly hailed as one of the greatest ever in Formula E and with Edo advancing to P3 as a result, it was a landmark moment during our weekend in Riyadh.
After advancing to P3, Edo’s charge in Race 1 was still far from over and after the second of two safety car periods, he found himself in direct competition with Rast for P2.
With the seconds ticking down until the end of the race, the tension was heightened tenfold and on lap 27, Edo again armed and activated Attack Mode.
In one final push for position, Edo cleared Rast to move into P2 and defended the runner-up spot until the line to take the first chequered flag of the season inside the top three.
This marked Edo’s first trip to the Formula E podium since the 2019 Hong Kong E-Prix and our first since the Season 5 Monaco E-Prix, 658 days earlier.
With every high in motorsport comes every low, and while Friday concluded with the taste of silverware, the start of Saturday was the complete opposite.
In the first session of the day, Edo was involved in a frontal collision, and after getting extracted from the car, he was taken to hospital for precautionary assessments, fully conscious and talking.
Less than six hours later, Edo was back at the track, cleared, fit, and ready to race – a testament to Formula E and the FIA’s safety systems and regulations – although ongoing car repairs prevented him from taking to the grid.
ROKiT Venturi Racing would like to thank the marshals and medical staff at the Riyadh Street Circuit for the speed, care and professionalism of their response to the incident.
Not all heroes wear capes!
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