Nick Cassidy finishing on the podium in Formula E is something to be expected more often than not. In fact, with third place in the season-opening Sao Paulo E-Prix, it was the New Zealander’s fourth podium in a row after a trio of victories at the end of last season.
But third place for him on Saturday was his first for him in his new colors, and a first for Citroen Racing in its maiden Formula E outing
“[I’m] completely blown away for everyone,” he said. “Citroen joining Formula E is a big story, so to be on the podium [in the] first event with them is fantastic.
“Didn’t even realize that [it was a fourth podium in a row],” he continued. “I’ve been so focused on this car and all the work in the off-season to arrive here ready, and I kind of thought after free practice that we were going to have a really strong day. I thought, even after Valencia, that things were looking good and then qualifying was a disaster, so I was pretty upset, and then glad to come back in the race.”
Cassidy qualified 15th, but as has become a familiar sight in the GEN3 era of Formula E, he was able to manage the “peloton-style” racing perfectly to carve his way through the field. With a late race safety car, full course yellow and red flag, it would be easy to assume luck played a part, but he doesn’t feel it was down to that.
“The fact it’s possible to overtake on 350[kW] helps us move forward, but to be honest, there was not really much chaos by the time I got to second,” he said. “It was Jake and I with 12, 11, 10 laps to go, and I thought it was between us two for the win, just depending on when we took that final Attack and only from that point on there was a bit of chaos.
“[Peloton racing] is probably what enabled us to go forward from the back. I think we played that very well, but I’m very proud of this result, because I don’t feel it was on luck. We were already in the box seat in P2 before any safety car.”
With a debut podium, Cassidy is expecting further strong results from the newly-rechristened team which won one race in each of the last three seasons when it competed as Maserati MSG Racing.
“If we can continue the form that we had at the end of Valencia [testing], and what we had in practice this morning, tuning a few little things, I think we can be pretty strong in the race,” he said. “There’s no doubt we don’t quite have the efficiency of these boys (Porsche and Nissan), but if we play our cards right, and if we can qualify well, then we can compete, just like we did today.”