Portuguese driver begins to defend his title with the DS in Diriyah

Formula E returns to racing this next weekend. The championship of electric single seats starts for the seventh season with the status of World Cup and with a Portuguese from the highest step. António Félix da Costa is the title champion and, in the second season in the also DS Techeetah champion, the Portuguese driver can only aim to repeat in 2021 the triumph obtained last year.

In reinforcement of what he had already said , the 29-year-old Portuguese driver knows that he is in the spotlight and that is the first opponent to pass for all the rest of the squad, as he told the Lusa agency.

“I know that I am the target to be hit by all my opponents, but that actually motivates me me even more to get on track at full strength. It will be an ultra-competitive year, all the teams have worked hard and the cars have evolved a lot, but we also did it and we really want to maintain the level of 2020. “

The new car for 2021 will not yet be an option for this first double round in the Saudi Arabia and this will be the first test for DS, which defends the second championship won in the last two seasons.

“We will only debut the new car in the Rome race. We have tested a lot with the new car, but for reasons of reliability we decided to keep the car from last season in this first race. The improvements are essentially a better efficiency in the management of battery power. “

In addition to the planned start of the two-season season with Diriyah’s e-Prix at the wheel of the DS 2020, Félix da Costa will also start defending the title of champion against his teammate right away.Jean-Éric Verne is the two-time French champion who won the previous two championships and was beaten by the Portuguese in his debut year.

The Formula E squad for this year has 12 teams, among which are two more winners of the electric single seater championship: Sébastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi.

Teams and drivers:

Envision Virgin Racing (Audi e-tron) – Robin Frijns (Hol) and Nick Cassidy (NZ)

Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team (Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02) – Stoffel Vandoorne ( Bel) and Nyck de Vries (Hol)

Dragon / Penske Autosport (Penske EV-5) – Nico Müller (Sui) and Sérgio Sette Câmara (Bra)

Nio 333 fE Team (Nio 333 001) – Oliver Turvey (GB) and Tom Blomqvist (GB)

Jaguar Racing (Jaguar I-Type 5) – Sam Bird (GB) and Micth Evans (NV)

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler (Audi e- tron FE07)

DS Techeetah (DS E-Tense FE20) – António Félix da Costa (Por) and Jean-Éric Vergne (Fra)

Nissan e.dams (Nissan IM02) – Oliver Rowland (GB) and Sébastien Buemi

BMW i Andretti Motorsport (BMW iFE 21) – Jake Dennis (GB) and Maximilian Günther (Ale)

Mahindra Racing (Mahindra M7Electro) – Alexander Sims (GB) and Alex Lynn (GB)

TAG Heuer Porsche formula E Team (Porsche 99X Electric ) – André Lotterer (Ale) and Pascal Wehrlein (Ale)

Rockit Venturi Racing (Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow) – Edoardo Mortar a (Sui) and Norman Nato (Fra)

The Formula E World Championship starts this weekend in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, with Diriyah’s e-Prix. The Free Practice starts this Thursday and the two races of this day will take place on Friday the 26th and Saturday the 27th.

Diriyah will receive the first double round scheduled at the start of the championship with the second double race scheduled for Chile at the end of the existing calendar and which has already suffered the cancellation of the Paris e-Prix and the suspension of six tests originally planned.

Formula E Calendar:

Diriyah – February 26th and 27th

Rome – April 10

Valencia – April 24

Monaco – May 8

Marrakech – May 22

Santiago de Chile – June 5 and 6

The post Formula E: Kick off the World Championship with Félix da Costa from the top appeared first on World Weekly News.