Rowland leaves Mexico City pleased with Formula E title defense early on

Oliver Rowland is satisfied with how his Formula E title defense is going, having left Mexico City with another podium finish. The Nissan driver sits third in the points, six points off the lead after starting his season in December with second at the Sao Paulo E-Prix, and backing it up with third in the second round of the season.

It was a race he won last season, but despite not repeating the result, he was in a positive mood after the race, pointing out that getting any strong result in the hugely-competitive world of Formula E is a plus.

“We know how competitive it is this year, so I think to score two podiums in the first two races is a really, really solid start to the season,” he said. “It's just going to be tough. 

“Look at qualifying, how tight it is, and the level of drivers and teams here – it’s going to be a tough season, but I'm really happy with today.”

At one point a podium for Rowland seemed out of reach after he ended up off-track following a tangle at Turn 6 with Jaguar TCS Racing’s Antonio Felix da Costa, who himself had been forced out with by Maximilian Guenther. A Full Course Yellow for the stricken Mahindra of Nyck de Vries followed moments later, robbing Rowland of 1m12s of Attack Mode he had remaining at that point. The neutralization cost Rowland dearly, but helped him in equal measure, enabling to compose himself and resume racing in a better headspace.

“I was quite unlucky during my first activation of Attack Mode,” Rowland lamented. “I ended up off in the grass and in about 13th place. I was actually lucky that the Full Course Yellow stayed out for a while because I was pretty angry, and I think had it started again, I probably would have done something that I might have regretted.

“But I managed to calm down and come back with a good pace at the end.”