DS TECHEETAH continues to reign in the Principality of Monaco. After winning its first Monaco E-Prix together as a team in 2019 with Jean-Eric Vergne, DS TECHEETAH has held on to the winner’s trophy at the bi-annual E-Prix through Antonio Felix da Costa’s win today.
Reigning champion, António Félix Da Costa, took his first win of the season, his sixth in Formula E, and gave the new DS E-TENSE FE21 its second success after a spectacular race, closely fought until the last corner. Jean-Éric Vergne rounded an excellent day for the squad taking 4th and narrowly missing out on the podium.
Both cars proved extremely competitive from the free practice sessions in the morning through to qualifying, with Da Costa taking the pole and Vergne P4.
At the start of the race, Da Costa kept the advantage but the battle at the top was intense throughout the race. Da Costa and Frijns exchanged the lead four times and in the closing laps, Evans was the main rival of the Portuguese driver, who secured victory with a breath-taking move at the Nouvelle Chicane in the last lap.
After the disappointment at Valencia, the team turned its fortunes around when Da Costa received the winner’s trophy from HSH Prince Albert II of Monaco, who arrived to the track in a DS 9 E-TENSE 4×4 360 earlier in the day.
After today’s results, DS TECHEETAH climbs back to 3rd position in the Teams’ standings of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, only 7 points from the leader. Da Costa and Vergne are 4th and 7th respectively in the Drivers’ ranking, where the gaps to the leader are further narrowed down.
The championships are still wide open as the series now moves on to the double-header in Puebla, Mexico on 19-20 June.
António Félix da Costa, Monaco E-Prix Winner:
“It feels incredible to have won Monaco. We had some amazing racing today, hard but fair and I love racing when it is like this. I can’t think of a series where we had this many swaps for the race lead, unbelievable. I left it all on the table for the last lap and it paid off. We now have six weeks before the next race and I will be riding on the results today all the way into Puebla.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, P4:
“Today we proved the team could perform at its best. Unfortunately, I missed the 2nd attack mode which made me lose strong positions but I fought back. The podium was very close, congratulations to Antonino for winning the race. Let’s fight back in Puebla.”
Mark Preston, DS TECHEETAH Team Principal:
“Winning Monaco is nothing but amazing and I am so impressed by the entire team for pulling that off twice back-to-back after JEV won here last year and now with Antonio. He did an exceptional job the entire weekend and the team has done some brilliant preparation to get us our second win here. JEV did a great job today to finish 4th and to take home the Fastest Lap which gives another point to the tally both for him and the team. Going into Monaco, we were discussing how we would get ourselves back into the lead of the championship ahead of this weekend and we all agreed that we need a win to turn it around, so mission accomplished.
“The win today was extra special as we don’t have a home race in Paris this year, so this is as close to a home race we will have. It was great to see DS Automobiles CEO Beatrice Foucher on the podium accepting the team’s trophy and I would like to extend a thank you for the immense support we have from the entire DS team.”
Thomas Chevaucher, DS Performance Director:
“What a weekend! To race at Monaco is always something special, but to win starting from the pole is the best possible proof of the performance level of a car, a driver, and a team. After having been through some difficult moments, I am very proud of the team and its extraordinary abilities. We are now back in the race for the titles and reassured of the strengths and competitiveness of our DS E-TENSE FE21.”
