2023 Portland E-Prix "I look forward to some stronger and more representative results in Rome and London"

Portland International Raceway, Sunday 25 June

Hear from NEOM McLaren Formula E Team drivers René Rast and Jake Hughes, and Team Principal Ian James after the Portland E-Prix.

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Free Practice 2 P4 (1:09.255) 
Qualifying P4 (1:09.374) 
Race P14

"That was a difficult weekend, and we’re coming away without any points. On the positive side, our pace was good in qualifying. I qualified P4 and we were fighting for pole position, so we know our one-lap pace is strong. The race didn’t go our way, we made some errors and we weren’t able to collect any points. I think we deserved more, but we need to analyse what went wrong exactly and come back fighting in Rome.”  

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Free Practice 2 P7 (1:09.361) 
Qualifying P6 (1.09.453)
Race P18

“Our week in Portland was a bit disappointing. From my side, I wasn’t super comfortable with the balance of the car at the start of the week, but the team managed to correct it well which enabled me to qualify P6. Starting P6, we were quite confident we could get some good points, but the race was incredibly challenging. The result is a very disappointing one from both sides of the garage. We need to understand what happened better, to ensure we can be better going forward.” 

Ian James Image

“It has been great to be able to race in the US again. After showing some really strong pace in both free practice sessions, and then that resulting in strong qualifying performances from both René and Jake, the race itself was a huge disappointment. On one side, and from a personal perspective, I don't feel that the style of racing that we've seen today necessarily shows Formula E in its best light. And that is a shame, because we have seen some phenomenal racing so far in the Gen3 era. That's something we should reflect on and decide how to address in future.” 

“However, these races are something we know to expect from time to time, and as a team we need to do a better job at managing them in order to get the results we are capable of. This weekend has shown that, even though there are positive signs on single lap pace, we still have a huge amount of work to do. As ever, we’re not afraid to take on that challenge and put in the effort – and I look forward to some stronger and more representative results in Rome and London next month.” 

Standings after Round 12

NEOM McLaren Formula E Team P7 (86 points) 
Jake Hughes P10 (46 points)
René Rast P12 (40 points) 

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