The 2022 Diriyah E-Prix in Numbers

Following a 166 day wait since the end of Season 7, the FIA Formula E World Championship whirred back into life to deliver a stellar opening weekend of racing for its 2021/22 campaign.

The series returned to the deserts of Diriyah for a fourth season in succession, which again served as the backdrop to an action-filled double-header event.

In Race One, the numbers aligned perfectly as the driver of car #48, Edoardo Mortara, started his 48th race in Formula E while Lucas, by making his 85th start in the series, completed his first as a ROKiT Venturi Racing driver.

After getting their first taste of the series’ new qualifying format, the duo started the first part of the Diriyah E-Prix from eighth and 12th and made an impression upon lights out.

By gaining three places during the 45-minute +one lap affair, Lucas took home fifth while Edo made up an impressive six positions take sixth, with the pair netting a combined 18 points.

After closely examining our data overnight, we returned on Saturday to unleash our true pace in Race Two and in qualifying, Edo and Lucas starred in the duel stages for the very first time.

By defeating André Lotterer and Robin Frijns in the quarter and semi-finals, Edo faced Nyck de Vries in the pole position shootout but missed out on the top spot by a mere 0.005-second margin.

Nevertheless, Edo was on a charge when the race got underway and by overtaking de Vries on lap 16, navigated a strategy-driven battle to power to victory, leading 19 laps in total.

This performance marked Edo’s third win in Formula E to date and with this result, our Swiss-Italian star shot to the top of the World Drivers’ Championship with 33 points.

Lucas also made progress, and by fighting from fourth to third, secured his first podium for ROKiT Venturi Racing in only his second start with the Monegasque marque.

In doing so, he matched Edo’s record for the fewest race starts before finishing on the podium for Monaco’s only racing team and also completed our very first double podium performance.

This result also allowed Lucas to score his 900th point in Formula E while he also surpassed his 6,000th lap on race weekends in the series. He is also the only driver in Formula E history to gain positions in all seven Diriyah E-Prix to date.

Combining Edo’s 33 points with Lucas’ tally of 25, ROKiT Venturi Racing also took the lead in the World Teams’ Championship to complete its most successful season opener in history.

En route to this achievement, the team completed a total of 307 laps of the Riyadh Street Circuit, totalling 766 kilometres using fully-electric power which is the same as driving from our headquarters to Edo’s birthplace in Geneva almost three times over.

With only 10 days remaining until the Mexico City E-Prix, we can’t wait to return to the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez where we will resume Season 8 once more.