Origin of Nissan: what happened to Rowland in Misano – News

One step from the encore

Disqualification robbed Antonio Felix Da Costa of success in the first of two races Misano Adriatico he had allowed Oliver Rowland not only to win the victory, but also to jump on the Drivers’ standings. An unexpected setback for the British driver, very close to achieving the double and another success, this time on the track, in the second race in Emilia-Romagna. It is a shame that a possible victory, as well as the lead in the standings, disappeared in the final lap due to errors at home. Nissan.

A ‘stupid’ error before starting

The Japanese team, in fact, did a calculation error in single-seat energy management software. In fact, as the Team Leader suspected earlier Tommaso Volpe immediately after the race, Rowland took to the track with a car that would complete fewer laps than the expected total of 26, stopping just a few kilometers from victory. Volpe himself confirmed this ‘own goal’ in the Race after the interview: “We made a mistake in the exit procedure, very stupid mistake which affected the data on which we were implementing the strategy – He agreed – it was a stupid mistake that misled us for the rest of the race. The strategy was perfect, but it was based on incorrect information. It’s sad because it’s a small procedure to do in the beginning and we didn’t do it because we were in a hurry for other reasons. It risked everything“.

What went wrong?

So a fault occurred on the starting grid also confirmed by the Director of Nissan, Dorian Boisdron: “What happened on the grid is that the program parameter was not reset correctlyso we had to reset it yourselfwhich took time – He added, going into more detail – this had an impact on our normal process and operation on the grid, and it was the main reason for the problem we had at the end of the race, because we could not do normal things correctly due to this problem.”

Porsche stage

In Formula E, in principle, the use of real-time telemetry between the garage and the car is not allowed, which therefore gave incorrect data to the driver on energy management, which was reset when victory was already ahead, and which instead ended up in the hands of Porsche and Pascal Wehrlein: “The plan was to stay in front and stay in front, but I saw Oliver pushing hard and trying to pass him a couple of times. – explained the German, 2 to the decisive period – the team told me to defend myself, but I was just losing strength and that would put me in a difficult position in the end. Two rounds to go I was told that Oliver’s powers would die, but I wasn’t sure if it would actually happen and if we had the right information. In the end, the decision we made in the last 10 rounds proved to be the right one.”