Thursday, August 13, 2020

Throwback Formula E: Broken Valve prevents Nicolas Lothaire-Irvine from completing a lap at Long Beach; becomes the second driver in series history to not complete a lap

Nicolas Lothaire-Irvine picked up the 1st last place finish of his SCRL Formula E Series career in the Season 1 Long Beach ePrix at the Long Beach Street Circuit when his #19 Williams Martini Racing fell out with valve issues without completing any of the 10 laps.

The finish came in his 5th start. Nicolas is the brother of Marc Lothaire-Irvine and both are sons to Benoit Lothaire-Irvine who had been competing in several series up to this point, with Benoit still looking for his own success. Nicolas's debut started off with a 5th at Mexico City, a 3rd at Kyalami, 9th at Hockenheimring, 7th at Shanghai before struggling for the first time at Monaco, where he finished 15th.

On race day, Nicolas was scheduled to rolled off starting 4th, the best starting spot of his career, while starting in the final spot was the #11 Sahara Force India F1 Team of Tommy Hudson, but as the field rolled off pit road to begin their lone pace lap, Nicolas pulled to the right and into the paddock as the crew looked over the car, finding that the valve had been broken. Due to not having as much funds as the other Formula E teams, it was decided by the team to withdraw from the event and focus on the next round at Hungaroring.

By the end of the second lap, three more spots would be filled in the Bottom Five, as a multi-car crash would break out in Turn 6 when the Nicolas's teammate the #77 Williams Martini Racing of Jonathan Raines, the #33 Red Bull Racing of Jay Barker and the #30 Renault Sport F1 Team of Josh Barker would all be involved with Raines and Jay both being scored having completed only one lap, while Josh completed 2 before pulling into the paddock.

Rounding out the Bottom Five was the #88 Manor Racing of Kelly Lee, who herself crashed into the Turn 6 tire barriers on Lap 5.

Nicolas would top his career best 3rd at Kyalami with a runner up finish to James Barker at Suzuka, the closest he would get to victory lane. Nicolas would finish 12th in his final race at CTMP and would finish 10th in the final point standings. He hasn't competed in a SCRL race since.

SCRLASTCAR STATISTICS
*This marked the first SCRL Formula E Series last-place finish for the #19 as well at Long Beach.
*This marked the first time "valve" has finished last in the SCRL Formula E Series
*This marked the second time a driver has failed to complete a lap; the only other time it had happened was the Shanghai Sprint at the Shanghai International Circuit when the #44 Mercedes of Daniel Evans fell out with engine issues without completing any of the 6 laps; 2 races ago.

THE BOTTOM FIVE
22) #19-Nicolas Lothaire-Irvine / 0 laps / valve
21) #77-Jonathan Raines / 1 lap / crash
20) #33-Jay Barker / 1 lap / crash
19) #30-Josh Barker / 2 laps / crash
18) #88-Kelly Lee / 5 laps / crash

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