Formula E in India: Sette Camara benefits from chaos and secures Nio 333's first top 5 result since 2018

After Dan Ticktum had already scored the first point for Nio 333 two weeks ago in Diriyya, the knot has now also been broken for teammate Sergio Sette Camara. In a partly chaotic race he avoided collisions and benefited in the final result from some retirements and penalties against competitors. 5th place at the Hyderabad premiere is also the team's best result since the Berlin E-Prix 2018.

Sergio Sette Camara has arrived at his new team Nio 333 and the 2023 Formula E season after four races. In Mexico City and Diriyya, the Brazilian's overall package had not yet worked as well in qualifying and the race as it had for teammate Dan Ticktum, who had shown off with some strong times and results. In India, however, Sette Camara was the better man and already in the 1st free practice back in the top 3.

By his own admission, the pace of the car would have been enough to reach the duel stage. However, an incident with Pascal Wehrlein had prevented a better result than 15th on the grid. "After qualifying I was very frustrated. I had the pace to reach the duels but was hindered by another driver," Sette Camara explained in a video posted on his social media channels. The Porsche driver was demoted three positions on the grid for the offense.

In the end, Sette Camara was two-tenths of a second behind Maximilian Günther, who finished fourth in Group A to reach the quarterfinals. "But the race result made up for it later," Sette Camara continued.

"Better than we ever expected" - Sette Camara makes up 10 places

In the race, the most important task for the Brazilian was to stay out of collisions and bring the car safely to the finish, which he did with flying colors. He benefited from a wing break on Edoardo Mortara on lap 1, thecollisions surrounding the two Jaguar drivers, the crash of Rene Rast and Jake Dennis, and the curious retirement of Jake Hughes, which flushed him forward into the top 10.

Sette Camara himself had only tangled with Nissan driver Norman Nato on the track away from the cameras - but with no consequences for the Nio 333 driver. Nato, however, had subsequently dropped to the back of the field.

 

 

 

 

 

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After subsequent penalties against Sebastien Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne and Oliver Rowland, Sette Camara was in 5th place. "I'm very happy with the result," he said. "Fifth place is better than anything we ever expected. Especially since we started from 15th place. That means we made up ten positions. Of course, there were many touches, accidents and penalties in the race, but we still had good pace and I was able to overtake. It was definitely a big step compared to Diriyya."

Ticktum kollidiert mit spiegellosem Hughes

Teamkollege Ticktum erwischte in Hyderabad ein schwierigeres Wochenende. Ein Fahrfehler auf seiner Qualifying-Runde sorgte für Startplatz 16 und eine schwierige Ausgangsposition. Im Rennen war er abseits der Kameras anscheinend in Runde 16 mit Jake Hughes aneinandergeraten. Auf Instagram schrieb der Brite, dass er Hughes habe überholen wollen, dieser ihn aber nicht habe sehen können, da er seit der Startphase ohne Spiegel unterwegs war. Ticktum fuhr nach dem Kontakt in die Box und musste wenig später das Rennen aufgeben.

 

 

 

 

 

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Ein Beitrag geteilt von Dan Ticktum (@dan_ticktum)

Mit elf Punkten liegt Nio 333 in der Gesamtwertung auf der achten Position und somit vor Nissan, Maserati und ABT Cupra. Ein durchaus guter Saisonstart für die Chinesen, die in den vergangenen Jahren nur selten "Land sahen". Die nächste Gelegenheit auf Punkte bietet sich Sette Camara und Ticktum in knapp zwei Wochen beim Kapstadt E-Prix in Südafrika (25. Februar).