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Much like Antonio Felix da Costa, the chances of Jerome D’Ambrosio thinking that the seventh place he bagged in Hong Kong back in October 2016 would go on to be his best result of the season were slim.
For the past two seasons, D’Ambrosio had been among the frontrunners, always on the fringes of the title battle and a two-time race winner to boot.
Dragon Racing’s decision to become a manufacturer team for Season 3 seemed the right one, and the partnership with Faraday Future gave the team a bold new look.
But in spite of this, the anticipated results never materialised. There were some fantastic battles between D’Ambrosio and team-mate Loic Duval, not least in Buenos Aires, where they fought to the finish with D’Ambrosio eventually taking eighth.
Remarkably, that would be the last point he scored until the penultimate round of the season, Race 2 in New York. The previous round in Berlin had, on the face of it, been another underwhelming race, with D’Ambrosio finishing in 13th twice.
But the team felt it had made a breakthrough with the Penske 701-EV, and this was confirmed when D’Ambrosio went second fastest in the qualifying group stages for Race 1 in New York. An error in Super Pole meant he eventually started fifth, but it was a window into the potential of the package when the stars aligned.
Unfortunately mechanical gremlins – an unfortunately recurring issue – meant there would be no points. He atoned with a distant 10th in the second race, but a small corner had been turned. In Montreal he was again in the hunt, finishing the season with ninth place in the finale, giving reasons to be optimistic for Season 4.