Rounds three and four of the FIA Formula E World Championship will be held in the European city of Rome this weekend.
It was a late move to decide to have two rounds at the track, with the announcement coming out on 27th March. With other rounds already being delayed or cancelled due to the Coronavirus pandemic, Rome was high on the list to squeeze in another race.
Goodmayes’ Alex Lynn didn’t have the best of starts at the season-opening double header in Saudi Arabia on the 26th and 27th February. Not only were both of his races marred by incidents, but the crash in round two is one of the worst seen in the competition’s history.
Saudi Arabia Woes
Last time out, Lynn’s weekend in Saudi Arabia didn’t go to plan. Both races ended in retirement for him, meaning he walked away with zero points in his first weekend back in Formula E.
In the first race of the weekend, Lynn found himself in a promising position after qualifying in fifth. As the race went on, he started to fall backwards down the grid but gained back some momentum and battled with Sam Bird for sixth place. It all went wrong for his from there.
Bird made a lunge on Lynn, but Lynn left Bird no room, pinning him against the inside wall. The contact made Lynn spin into the barriers, with Bird following him and the two joining at the noses.
The stewards deemed Lynn responsible for the incident and penalised him with a three-place grid penalty for Sunday’s race of which he qualified in ninth but was relegated to 12th due to his part in the previous races’ collision.
Late on in the race, Lynn was caught up in another accident. This one was dubbed one of the worst accidents seen in Formula E history.
The incident wasn’t shown on tv and it wasn’t till after the race, when broadcasters knew Lynn was ok that the events were shown.
Lynn drove over the rear right wheel of Mitch Evans’ car with the contact sending his car skidding along the track, upside down. Once the car stopped, Evans immediately ran out to make sure his fellow competitor was ok.
https://twitter.com/FIAFormulaE/status/1366002560889483266
Lynn was rushed to hospital but was discharged later that evening after being given the all-clear.
After promising pace shown all weekend, Lynn’s weekend ended with two DNF’s and zero points scored for the championship.
What can he do this time around?
After the turbulent races in Diriyah, Lynn is ready to get back into the racing seat. Luckily, there has been a six-week break in between race weekends, giving him plenty of time to recuperate and be perfectly fit to jump back into the hot seat.
Despite not finishing a race so far this year, his qualifying sessions have proved he’s got the speed. His laps put him in the top ten in both qualifying sessions, with the second one being marred by his three-place grid penalty. Without his two retirements, Lynn could have easily had points to his name.
Looking ahead to the Rome ePrix this weekend, it’s a brand-new experience, not just for Lynn but for the whole grid. The layout of the track has been changed for this year, with the cars skating around new areas of the Italian capital.
Lynn said “I’m super motivated ahead of Rome. It will be really interesting this year as it’s pretty much a new track. I’ve been spending some time in the simulator at the factory with my engineers and, from the work that we’ve done, I think it’s going to be a circuit that I enjoy.
“We’re heading to a very technical track that has some really tight and twisty parts with a lot of ninety-degree corners and also a very fast section. I’m sure it will provide the usual brilliant action that Formula E is known for. I firmly believe we’ve got a competitive car so we will head to Rome focusing on ensuring that we produce the best weekend that we can.”
