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Formula E Sao Paulo ePrix

Dennis: Andretti has "got to the bottom" of Formula E issues

Reigning Formula E champion Jake Dennis believes his Andretti Global team has “got to the bottom of our issues” ahead of the Sao Paulo E-Prix this weekend.

Jake Dennis, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3, Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23

The Briton had contrasting results in the latest round during the Diriyah E-Prix double-header, taking a commanding win in the opening race before failing to score any points in the sequel.

Dennis was left “shocked why we were so bad” just 24 hours after a convincing victory, claiming ahead of this weekend’s race in Brazil that the issue was due to a lack of all-round grip in qualifying.

With a seven-week gap since the last round due to the cancellation of the Hyderabad E-Prix, Dennis believes the break has allowed the American team time to solve the issue.

“None of us knew what happened, but I feel like we’ve got to the bottom of that now and got an understanding,” Dennis told Motorsport.com.

“I’m sure other surprises will come up and then we learn from them but it’s not like we’re now going to go on a winning rampage.

“But I genuinely do feel like we’ve found mistakes and built up a better knowledge of how everything works.

“We’ll just learn from our mistakes and our weaknesses and move forward.”

Jake Dennis, Andretti Global

Jake Dennis, Andretti Global

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Despite potentially solving the problems that afflicted him and the team in Saudi Arabia, Dennis remains cautious that qualifying will still be a challenge in Brazil this weekend.

“I think our one-lap pace is still a weak area even when everything is aligned, so if everything is not perfect then we get extremely punished with that because we’re on the cut line [for the duels] already,” he said.

“When you have one small thing not in the window then you’re out. Whereas some of the guys who have a bit more margin in qualifying and have the better car, if things don’t align then maybe they can still scrape through, whereas for us it’s just not the case.”

Factory Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein also endured a difficult Diriyah event as the season-opening Mexico City E-Prix winner finished in the lower reaches of the points.

The German believes the second running of the Sao Paulo E-Prix will follow a similar pattern to last year's event, with a peloton style of racing where drivers want to sit in the slipstream as opposed to leading to save energy.

“We used the break well I think understanding the first couple of races and trying to improve further,” he told Motorsport.com. “It was not really a break to be honest, we were still quite busy.

“I think in general we are going to see the other extreme of Formula E here, the other style of racing with everyone trying to be in the slipstream, no one wants to lead the race.

“Exactly the opposite of what we saw in the first couple of races.”

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