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From his first-ever Julius Baer Pole Position, Oliver Turvey led away at the start of the Mexico City ePrix, and despite near constant pressure from Jose-Maria Lopez behind him, looked comfortable out-front.
For 11 laps he held the lead, then as he came around to complete lap 12, his NextEV NIO Formula 002 slowed and then stopped. It was a heart-wrenching moment for the Brit, and the Qualcomm Safety Car period that followed also transformed the narrative of the race, setting in motion the chains of events that allowed Lucas di Grassi to recover from a broken rear wing to victory.
After the struggles of Season 2, when the NextEV car was among the least competitive on the grid, there was a step forward for Season 3, especially in qualifying. But while Turvey and team-mate Nelson Piquet Jr usually started well up the grid, more often than not they would struggle to maintain that position as the car’s hunger for energy would necessitate more conservation than their rivals.
There were only three occasions on which Turvey started outside of the top 10, yet only six occasions when he ended up in the points. Mexico was clearly both his highest and lowest points of the season, but he did well to finish sixth in Race 1 in New York and he put in a good turn to claim seventh in Marrakesh.