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Esteban Gutierrez scored points on his Formula E debut, despite having never driven the all-electric racing car in anger previously.
Gutierrez has replaced Ma Qing Hua as Jean-Eric Vergne’s team-mate at TECHEETAH for the remainder of the season. The Mexican driver drew his legion of fans to the ‘Gutierrez Grandstand’ at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the Julius Baer Mexico City ePrix and gave them plenty to cheer by bringing his car home in 10th place.
Gutierrez benefitted from a host of post-qualifying penalties to line up ninth on the grid for his debut. He was in the thick of the battle for the minor points when his car suddenly started to lose power and he dropped back.
But he recovered strongly following the mid-race car swap, and when the two Mahindras collided on the penultimate lap he was promoted into a points-paying position.
“It was a very challenging race day for me without knowing the car, without knowing the category,” he said. “Everything was completely new, so yeah it was nice to finish in the points on my first ePrix. A good starting point, but definitely more and more positive results to come in the next few races.”
Gutierrez will make his second Formula E start in the Monaco ePrix, which takes place on May 13.