Discover more
The spectacular Montreal street circuit, home to this weekend’s season finale, was broken-in today by local hero Patrick Carpentier.
The versatile French-Canadian, who raced everything from Indycar to NASCAR to rallycross during his career, had his first chance to experience the all-electric Formula E car when he became the very first person to drive a lap of the track.
“I loved it, it’s amazing!” he beamed after completing his short run. “I never thought it was going to be like that, I wished we had this at the time when I was racing.
“I started with a bit less power and at the start the tyres were cold and I thought it was a bit unpredictable and then on the second lap the tyres came in and the thing just started really working. I was amazed, it’s really well balanced, the track has a lot of grip and the guys are going to enjoy it.
“When I was racing Indycars I remember if the car went well and everything was set-up it became a dance where you forgot the engine you didn’t think about shifting, it was just zen. And with this thing it’s just you and the car and I think it would be easier to get in that zen mode as you hear everything, you hear the tyres – I was locking up the left front a couple of times on the first two laps but you hear it right away. Normally you don’t hear it and you lock it for a lot longer.”
The Montreal street circuit is unusually wide by Formula E standards and also features an impressive amount of elevation change. Carpentier was in no doubt that it’s a great track to race on.
“It’s so much fun,” he said. “I’ve done a lot of street circuits and here it feels like you are on a permanent track. It’s long track, it’s cool that you’ve got an elevation change and once you start going down it’s wide open full power and it’s wide.
“Corner one is going to be a major overtake spot. Also down the back straight into Turn 3 and into the left-hander that goes uphill, that’s going to be a good passing zone and also at the back the short left/right opens up at the exit, so I think there might be some passing there.”
To find out more about this weekend’s race, click here