Silverware slips through DS' fingers on 100th outing

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Silverware slips through DS' fingers on 100th outing

"Not quite as we had hoped," said DS Performance boss Eugenio Frenzetti after the Gulavit Jakarta E-Prix Round 11. The team were celebrating their 100th race in Formula E, but couldn't build on a 22-point race one haul.

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Saturday's running went well for the DS PENSKE team. Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne managed to bring the car home fourth with teammate and double champion Jean-Eric Vergne in-tow in fifth. 

Sunday proved to be more difficult, although for the majority of the race it didn't look like there'd be anything but silverware on the cards as the icing on the team's 100th anniversary cake. Vandoorne had been scrapping for third for much of the encounter but struggles over team radio and contact with another car as he was shuffled right down the order following a Nissan double-team led by Sacha Fenestraz put paid to his chances.

"It was a tricky day with a tricky result," said Vandoorne. "It felt like we deserved a podium today and it was there. We have a good start, gained a position and ran the ATTACK MODEs as planned. We did okay even though it was hard to find the gaps.

"We got stuck behind Mitch (Evans) who was down on energy and there wasn't really a way past - I lacked some confidence on the brakes. I got overtaken, a little touch and the steering wheel was bent for the last seven or eight laps. I just had to kind of hang on and bring it home. So, P9 and two points but it should have been a lot more."

Vergne was caught up in trouble too - damage to his front wing enforcing a pit stop and wing change. He wound up 16th on Sunday.

"It's true that our 100th race didn't turn out the way we'd dreamed," said Eugenio Franzetti, Director of DS Performance. "You could even say that it was a difficult round and that the result does not reflect the performance of our cars. Our attention is now focused on the next race."

The signs are good for the team, with DS PENSKE the best at new locations so far this season: 75 points between Hyderabad, Cape Town and Sao Paulo for the outfit.

100 not out

DS are one of Formula E's mainstays, with Yves Bonnefont - DS Automobiles first Managing Director - launching DS Virgin Racing alongside Sir Richard Branson in London on 27 June 2015. 

Buenos Aires was the site of its first victory - in the fourth E-Prix of the season at the hands of Sam Bird. Since then, DS has gone on to notch 15 more wins and 47 podiums.

Title success came in Seasons 5 & 6 with Jean-Eric Vergne and Antonio Felix da Costa also steering to Drivers' successes.

The team was also among the first to commit to Formula E's GEN3 era.