Lola Yamaha ABT unfortunately left Tokyo without points despite improving pace on a drying track after taking a risk on set-up and strategy.
Rain and thunderstorms in the early afternoon meant the teams were evacuated from the temporary garages of the Tokyo street circuit and FP3 was cancelled. Therefore, the first running of the day was qualifying when Zane Maloney and Lucas di Grassi both went out in Group B and finished P9 and P10 respectively. Due to penalties to other drivers, Zane lined up P15 on the grid with Lucas four places behind in P19.
Following more rain in the early evening, the race started with a lap under the safety car. In the initial laps, with drier pressures on both cars they struggled for pace on the wet track and focused on saving energy. As the track started to dry, they were 5% to 6% up on energy compared to the leaders, with Lucas having saved slightly more energy in the slip stream behind Zane. Following the full course yellow on lap 15, Zane and Lucas were catching the field and lapping a few seconds a lap quicker than the leader. They both took their first and second Attack Modes back-to-back in the closing laps but unfortunately the red flag on lap 33 meant they were not able to benefit from the second of these. The race restarted with Zane in P13 and Lucas in P14 but with one lap under the safety car and just one lap to race to the chequered flag, they were unable to further benefit from their better pace and crossed the line in P12 (Zane) and P13 (Lucas).
"It was a tough day at the office without points but with some light at the end of the tunnel. We managed to execute a good race, prioritising a dry strategy. At the beginning we focused mainly on saving energy and staying on track, with a very difficult car to drive but at the end we were flying. If we had not been slightly unlucky with the red flag at the very end of the race I think we could have scored points. So overall, I’m happy with the pace but not with the result. We are going to review the data and work even harder to make sure the last push in London is enough for us to finish on a high. Thank you especially to Yamaha for everything they did for us this week. The Tokyo E-Prix is a very special race and I was very happy to represent Yamaha here in Japan.”
“Generally again today we struggled a lot for pace in performance running and then in the race we made a small gamble on tyre pressures, though not as big as Shanghai. We were struggling a lot at the beginning in the wet but as the track dried out we were getting quite quick. We were coming back at the field and still had two attack modes left. Unfortunately, when we took the second the red flag came out meaning we lost that attack mode. I think we could have achieved p8 or p9 in that race without the red flag which is a shame. I was out of slipstream so struggling a bit for energy relative to the cars behind me but the team did a good job in terms of strategy and we thoroughly enjoyed Tokyo, Yamaha’s home race.”
“The inclement weather today meant we had limited running after the cancellation of FP3 and unfortunately we also finished P9 and P10 in our group in qualifying. With a wet start to the race we tried to use some of our experience from our win in Shanghai to have a strategy that would work in our favour if we got lucky and the track dried. Although the track was drying the red flag came at an inopportune time for us and impacted our ability to continue to catch the pack and work our way through the field. Although we are disappointed to not score points today we are proud of the team for the hard work and look forward to one last push when we end the season in London in three weeks."
