Faraday Future Dragon Racing still haunted by technical issues

The 1.93-km circuit illuminated by the Eiffel Tower and Les Invalides offered Faraday Future Dragon Racing new hope, after a series of technical issues had plagued the team in earlier rounds of the 2016/17 season. In the end, the American outfit experienced mixed fortunes at the 2017 FIA Formula E Paris ePrix.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio who started the race in 13th position, got away cleanly from the grid and executed several maneuvers in the opening laps to take a top-ten position. The team’s bold gamble failed to pay off ,as the team made the call to pit the Belgian immediately following a collision on lap 19 between Lucas Di Grassi and António Félix da Costa at turn 8.

Unfortunately, the timing of the subsequent yellow flags caught the Belgian out, leaving him a lap down when he rejoined the race. In an effort to gain championship points, D’Ambrosio set out to achieve the fastest lap of the race. A third full course yellow hindered those efforts and he did not finish the race.

“Working with our technical partner, Faraday Future, has allowed us to resolve a number of technical problems that have caused issues for the team throughout the season. We will continue to work ahead of the reliability issues and push forward for the rest of the season”, D’Ambrosio pointed out.

Jérôme D’Ambrosio again failed to finish the race with his team Faraday Future Dragon Racing still haunted by technical issues. Photo : Jérôme Cambier

After full-time driver Loïc Duval was busy with his DTM commitment at Lausitzring in Germany, substitute Mike Conway jumped into the number 6 car. The Briton is an experienced driver, having raced for Venturi in the 2015/16 Formula E season.

Starting in 11th position, Conway moved swiftly amidst the packed field, directly following his team-mate. With proper energy conservation, the 33-year-old gained an advantage and even led the race for four laps. Then, he suffered a strategic mis-step when it came time to swap his car on lap 26, ultimately placing 14th in today’s contest.

“The whole day was going really well before the second and third full-course caution periods of the race. Staying out on track later than the rest of the teams gave us track position, but ultimately the strategy didn’t go as planned”, said Conway.

Entering the second part of the season, the American team looks forward to reversing its fortunes in Germany at the Berlin ePrix double header on June 10 and 11.

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