Robin Frijns’ return to Envision Racing was one of the most important driver changes of season 10. The Dutchman, who won two E-Prix with the Silverstone-based team, returned to the podium in Diriyah for the first time since New York. York in 2022.
Frijns finished second behind race winner Nick Cassidy of Jaguar TCS Racing, and the two battled each other until the end of the race, just over a second separating them at the checkered flag.
He managed to take the lead at the start overtaking Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, but eventually Cassidy had enough pace and efficiency to stay with both of them and emerged from the ATTACK MODE activations in first place.
“I took the lead and then battled Nick, basically pure pace, so it was really a challenge,” Frijns continued. “I think Nick was just too strong for me today. I just had that little extra with me. But like he said, ‘everybody has their day.’ I just didn’t have mine yet, so hopefully it will come very soon.”
First of Many
Frinjs said the result in Saudi Arabia is the start of more positives. “Obviously, last year I didn’t have a good car under me. This Envision still feels to me like a new car to learn with the Jaguar powertrain, it’s quite complicated. I struggled early in the season, in Mexico and also on Friday in Diriyah, maybe I was a bit lost.”
“We had a long night on Friday, but we turned it around and in qualifying I was quite strong. Then in the race, I’m missing that last edge that we’ll look into,” he added.
Frijns left the ABT CUPRA team after just one season and raced for the German team in the first year of the new GEN3 era. Although he took the Julius Baer Pole Position in Berlin, his best result with the team was ninth place. He rejoined Envision, after spending four years with the team between seasons 5 and 8.
