Top Ten Points from Double Header Event in Rome For NIO 333 Formula E Team

The NIO 333 Formula E Team come away from a challenging ABB FIA Formula E World Championship weekend with more points from Round 4 this afternoon and Tom Blomqvist’s second Top Ten finish of the Rome E-Prix.

Tom, in the #88 NIO 333 FE 001, ran in the Group 4 Qualifying session this morning. He leaves Rome with two more Championship points from his P8 finish in Round 4 today, making this Tom’s first double-points event in only his second with the 333 Racing FE Team.

Oliver Turvey started his race from the pits due to the penalty received from FP1 yesterday. Despite joining the back of the train of 23 Formula E challenges ahead of him during the rolling safety car start, Oliver drove a solid race in his #8 NIO 333 FE 001 making up ten places to finish P14 at the end of the 45 minutes plus 1 lap contest.

Tom Blomqvist, NIO 333 FE 001 #88

Qualifying Group 4 - Race Grid Position: P14 Round 4, Provisional Race Result: P8

“This is a good end to the day. We didn’t have a great qualifying really and looking at the race yesterday we knew today would be a challenging, a war of attrition with chaotic conditions. I just tried to basically do my own race and stay out of trouble. In the end we managed to secure a few points, so we have got to be happy with points from both races, I am happy with that and realistically we couldn’t have asked for much more. There is still work ahead of us, so we have to keep working and progressing in the right direction but on a positive note we have had a 333 Racing car in the points in every race so far, so all in all it was a good weekend in terms of race results.”

Oliver Turvey, NIO 333 FE 001 #8

Qualifying Group 3 (P17 achieved) - Race Grid Position: Pits (penalty from FP1) Round 4, Provisional Race Result: P14

“After missing so much track time yesterday, we focussed only on race preparation during free practice as we knew we had to start from the pitlane. At the race start, we were held up with some other cars going slowly on the safety car start which compromised the rest of our race. However, we got some useful learning from this race to help the development of the car, so thanks to the whole team for a huge amount of effort this weekend and looking forward to Valencia."

Christian Silk, NIO 333 FE Team Principal

“After what was a far from smooth weekend it is immensely satisfying to continue scoring points. This morning the circuit conditions were extremely changeable making it very difficult to learn much about the car. With Oliver, we knew we would be starting the race form the pit lane due to a penalty, so his program was focused on race rather than qualifying pace. This obviously restricted his qualifying position and he did well to qualify P17. The race started under Safety Car conditions due to the damp conditions. Unfortunately, at the start some of the cars ahead of Oliver were far too slow getting away and he was severely held up, effectively ruining his race before it even started, however he battled away to bring the car home in P14. Tom had a much better run of it. He was also compromised in the wet conditions in FP3, but the Engineers made some changes for qualifying and Tom was much happier with the car, reporting much better grip. He did a great job to qualify a strong P14 with potential to do more had he had the chance. In the race, Tom built on his success from yesterday and kept attacking all the way to finish a strong P8. After what has been a difficult weekend for the 333 Racing FE Team, we can at least celebrate our points run. Next on the calendar is Valencia, a very different circuit being smoother and faster. Formula E is always throwing challenges at the engineers and drivers as there is a lot of variation in the circuits, but Valencia is a race we are looking forwards to. The team ran well there in testing before the season started, so it will be really interesting to see what is possible in two weeks’ time. Thanks to you all!”

Rounds 5 and 6 of the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship take place at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in Valencia, on 24th / 25th April.

s a tough day for the team, from Practice 1 through to the end of the race. Obviously having both cars crash in P1 put the team on the back foot, especially at a new challenging circuit where getting maximum mileage is so important for both the drivers and the engineers to learn the maximum about the track. On car #8, despite the best effort of our crew, it was not possible to get the car repaired in time - the damage was just too great. On the other side of the garage Tom had a solid race. He was also lacking laps due to the incidents from this morning, but Tom quickly buckled down to the job in hand and battled his way through picking up a solid P11 (now P10) at the end of the race. Given the difficult day the team has experienced grabbing a Championship point is best result we could have hoped for. To finish on a positive Tom’s pace in the race looked good, so we can go into tomorrow with fresh optimism. I would just like to say thanks again to the crew, I think you would call today ‘character building’!”

Round 4 of the 2021 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship takes place in Rome tomorrow, with Free Practice 3 starting at 07:00 CET.