The 2.97km circuit through the street of Morocco left the MS Amlin Andretti drivers with race finishes in 11th and 20th for António Félix da Costa and Robin Frijns, respectively.
António Félix da Costa who started tenth on the grid, “feeling good in the car. We had very good energy management; we were running in the top 10 and looking good to get a few more places”, he said. Then the car had a technical problem which caused it to switch off. The Portuguese stopped on track and it took a while to get the ATEC-02 restarted.
Afterwards he pitted for an early car change which “was the end of the race for us, really. I jumped into the other car with the goal of going for the Fastest Lap, which we held until a lap or two from the end. It’s frustrating because it has been a month of hard work for the team and to die right there is hard to swallow”, Félix da Costa admitted.
Photo: Spacesuit Media – Shivraj Gohil, MS Amlin Andretti
His team mate Robin Frijns was also running inside the top 10 at the start of the race, showing strong energy management. Despite that the Dutchman finished 20th. With the way the race unfolded, along with his mid-stint spin, Frijns wasn’t able to make up further places in the end. “I came to a point when I was a bit quicker than Heidfeld and he seemed to be struggling. I went for a gap and he defended, I braked and locked the two fronts in the corner causing me to spin.”
“It was unlucky and unfortunate, but it was one of those times when you try something and, if it works you’re a hero, and if it doesn’t you’re on the outside”, the 25-year-old explained and continued “I thought with the second car we could make some steps in moving forward as we were the latest to come in for the car change, but I didn’t see any cars struggling at the end. It’s more competitive now, so it’s getting tougher to overtake. It’s a bit of a shame we didn’t score any points today, at maximum we could have been P8.”
Co-Team Principal Roger Griffiths summarised: “When it comes to the race, it just wasn’t our day. We are a little disappointed, to be honest, coming away from Marrakesh not having added to our total in teams points or driver points.” The Andretti Formula E Team left Africa with 18 team championship points, placing the team fifth in the team standings. Da Costa is ranked seventh in the driver standings while Frijns sits in ninth.
