World Championship reaches second round in the streets of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia
Brazilian driver Sérgio Sette Câmara landed this week in the city of Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, where he will compete this weekend in the second and third stages of the Formula E World Championship. After starting the 2023 calendar in Mexico City, two weeks ago, the world’s leading electric vehicle competition arrives in the Middle East for its second round.
In the process of adapting and fixing the brand new GEN3 car of the NIO333 Racing team the 24-year-old is very excited. Sette believes that the car has already shown good speed and can again be among the fastest on the Saudi track. On the other hand, the concern with energy management during the race is still the point of greatest attention in the box of the Chinese team.
The Diriyah street layout, located in the metropolitan region of Riyadh, has a total length of 2,495 meters and is presented as one of the most challenging for drivers and teams. Surrounded by the ancient walls that close the city, it mixes very fast straights with another part quite technical and winding. The races will have a total of 21 laps.
“The GEN3 is much more powerful than the previous one, however, the new Championship tires are less adherent. This makes it much more difficult to control the car, especially on a track with so many fast straights as we have here in Diriyah. You can’t push too hard on the brakes and I had to adapt to drive in a less aggressive way. Here we will have the first opportunity to drive with this new car on a street circuit that, deep down, is the reality that we will find in the rest of the season. It will be a great challenge, I believe I will do well, but I imagine that we will have very bumpy races and I sincerely hope to be away from these messes”, concluded the driver from Belo Horizonte.
HEADS UP – Friday is already a race day!
Unlike the schedule of other weekends in Saudi Arabia, the official schedule began on Thursday with the shakedown and first free practice. Tomorrow (Friday) the cars will return to the track for the second free practice, qualifying and the race of the second round. On Saturday, the 28th, the schedule will be the same as Friday.
BAND will broadcast the qualifying and race on Saturday and, BANDSPORTS, the qualifying and race on Friday. Check out the official schedule below.
Friday | 27/01
07:30 – 08:00 – Free practice 2 | YouTube (Formula E)
09:40 – 11:00 – Qualifying | Bandsports
14:00 – 15:00 – Race | Bandsports
Saturday | 28/01
07:30 – 08:00 – Free practice 3 | YouTube (Formula E)
09:40 – 11:00 – Qualifying | Bandsports
14:00 – 15:00 – Race | Bandsports
Pictures: Disclosure | NIO333 Racing
Press office of Sérgio Sette Câmara
Responsible journalist: Flávio Quick