Maserati MSG Racing's Jehan Daruvala scored the first top 10 finish of his FIA Formula E World Championship career by finishing ninth in the second part of the 2024 Misano E-Prix.
In Qualifying for Race Two, the 26-year-old narrowly missed out on the duels and started from 12th while Jehan lined up 21st after failing to set a representative lap time in the session.
Despite running over a shorter distance of 26 laps, Race Two saw the return of Formula E's peloton style of racing, and Max and Jehan battled hard from lights to flag.
By securing a strong getaway, Max moved up to seventh on lap one while Jehan lost ground after struggling for traction off the line.
After activating his first Attack Mode on lap five, Max danced between fifth and ninth before a Safety Car, caused by an accident for Robin Frijns, paused the race on lap eight.
With the pack punched up, Jehan vaulted from 20th to 16th on the restart and continued to fight forward, using surplus energy to negotiate his way into the top 10 on the final lap.
Max, meanwhile, solidified fifth place with his second Attack Mode activation but unfortunately lost track position due to an incident late in the race. After finishing ninth at the line, a post-race time penalty demoted the German to 12th.
By finishing ninth, Jehan secured his first points finish in Formula E after making his series debut earlier in 2024 while Maserati MSG Racing maintained its 100% points scoring record in Season 10 as one of only teams to do so.
The FIA Formula E World Championship's 2023/24 season will resume on April 27 for Maserati MSG Racing's home race – the Monaco E-Prix.
In Their Words
Maximilian Günther, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
'Not the outcome we deserved today. We were able to move into a strong position in the race, despite some issues that challenged us and ran in the top five for a long time. At the end we faced a racing incident with a competitor that put us out of the points. Still many positives to take from this weekend, a podium finish and good race pace. We'll regroup in the coming days and will come in strong shape to our home race in Monaco.'
Jehan Daruvala, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
'It feels good to score my first points in Formula E today. We were starting from the back row, but as a team, we decided on a strategy which we executed very well. We stuck to our plans, our communication was clear, and it resulted in my first top 10 finish of the season. I'm very happy, and from here, the goal is to fight for more in the future. Even after six races, I'm learning all of the time, and I know that there's still scope for me to learn from today's race. Monaco is up next and it's a circuit that I've had some success at before. If we can secure a good Qualifying there, I'm confident that we can have another good result.'
Alex Dardelet, Director of Engineering, Maserati MSG Racing
'Our Qualifying pace was not the strongest part of this weekend, but even so, we knew that because of the style of racing, there were a lot of opportunities in the race. Both yesterday and today, we saw that even if you start outside of the top 10, it is possible to go to the front quite easily. The race wasn't without its challenges, and we had a radio issue with Max at the start which meant he couldn't hear all of our communication. This corrected itself during the Safety Car and he delivered a strong drive, but unfortunately, there was an incident late in the race which cost him a top five finish. He came home in ninth, but finished outside of the top 10 because of a penalty. Jehan did an excellent job to recover to the top 10 to score his first points of the season. Overall, it has been a very positive weekend, and we'll continue our form into Monaco.'
Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse
'The home race E-Prix for Maserati gave us a lot of emotions and excitement: yesterday the podium with Max and today again a very close battle on track and Jehan's first top ten finish since the beginning of the season; a pride for us and a great achievement for him, the only rookie this year in Formula E. Despite the penalty that took Max out of points today, we are happy with how both drivers and the team never miss an opportunity to achieve new objectivities at every round, always aiming to do the best. We are almost halfway through the season, and the next round in Monaco will be another opportunity to continue this positive momentum. Today we are happy to have given a good show to the Italian fans of the Trident. See you at the next race!'
Photo credit: Maserati
posted on conceptcarz.com
The team, which celebrated the Trident's home event in Italy, entered the second race of the weekend after finishing on the podium on Saturday, with driver, Maximilian Günther gaining third following the disqualification of Antonio Felix da Costa after a technical breach.
This race neutralisation provided a critical opportunity for Jehan to close in on the field and when the race was resumed at the end of lap nine, the Indian racer set out on a strong recovery drive.
posted on conceptcarz.com
