Zane Maloney has said that his FIA Formula E debut in São Paulo gave him “good confidence” ahead of the next races ahead.
The Bajan, who forwent the final round of the Formula 2 championship at Abu Dhabi to join-up with Lola Yamaha ABT, finished 12th out of 14 cars that finished the chaotic curtain-raiser in Brazil, which was won by Jaguar’s Mitch Evans.
In the first instance, Maloney said that whilst the bar was set low by the British squad – making its single-seater motorsport return – he took positives out of the race.
“Of course there wasn’t many expectations coming into this weekend, but I’ve gotten good confidence from this race,” he told Motorsport Week.
“A relief, yes, to finish the race with not too many scratches, only a few, but it was important to finish this race and get good experience for me and the team.”
‘I honestly think good points were on the cards’
One frustration for Maloney was a drive through penalty that blunted his progress through the field, having been lying as high as fifth at one stage.
“I think we had a plan coming into the race, a strategy. We executed it well.
“We were in the top five at one point with the attack mode, which was nice. I honestly think good points were on the cards this weekend.
“We had the drive through with the overpower, which kind of obviously ruined the race for us, at the worst time as well, so that was the main problem in the race.
“But it’s expected for a new manufacturer, a new team to have these sort of problems, so I’m really confident moving forward.
“I’m not saying that we are now going to go and win races, that’s not going to happen, but we’ve learned so much.
‘We’ve learned hundreds of things this weekend and once we can implement that, which I have good confidence in the team, with the people that we have around, that we can implement these things even for Mexico.
“And once we do that, then we’re looking in good shape to keep moving forward through the season.
Maloney’s feat of finishing the race and spending time in the points places are even more remarkable after revealing that it was by far the longest stint he had spent in the car since first taking the wheel in tests in the off-season.
“The team learned so much from the car this weekend,” he said. “I learned so much in my driving and I didn’t even get to do the race simulation and testing, so this is the first time I’ve ever done more than five laps in a row pushing a Formula E car, so to have the result we did and the pace that we did, I’m excited for the future.”
