Berlin E-Prix winner Nick Cassidy has admitted that the deployments of the Safety Car in the first of this weekend’s double-header contributed to his sensational victory.
The Kiwi, who started ninth and dropped down to 21st, stormed through the field amid a prolonged peloton to take victory, putting himself in the lead of the Drivers’ Championship. But Cassidy told Motorsport Week that his victory prospects were significantly elevated upon the Safety Car’s appearances.
“Positioning ourselves, I thought we’d be in contention for top six or top eight but the Safety Car helped, and changed that top six to first,” he said.
It is another victory for the Jaguar TCS Racing team in Berlin, having completed a 1-2 last season, but when asked if their car is suited to the circuit, Cassidy was modest about this particular notion.
“I think it’s more a bit of Lady Luck – I was 21st and wasn’t quick and we qualified ninth and tenth!”
Lady Luck may have been smiling on Cassidy today, but he realises that luck has been unkind to him in other events.
“I look at Misano and we lost a lot of points, so those things can happen but the next five [races] are just important to keep scoring in all of them so we arrive in London to have a points bank to be in the fight.”
Tomorrow’s race is two laps less in distance, and with Jaguar encountering less speed than they would have liked in qualifying, Cassidy admits the team has to dig deep for something better tomorrow.
“It could be more driven to qualifying tomorrow, so we have to improve.”
