Marti and Lee secure ABB Engineered to Outrun honours in Sanya

It is absolutely wild what a bit of patience and a lot of energy management can achieve. Starting from 18th following a grid penalty, Marti and his CUPRA KIRO team had to commit to a desperate energy-saving gamble. Even after a brutal multi-car pileup during the race forced a Red Flag and left his machine battered, the team managed to repair the damage, though he was pushed back to 19th for the restart.

Here is the beauty of Formula E strategy: while the leaders at Andretti were busy controlling the pack, they unwittingly helped Marti. By keeping the pace slow, they allowed him to hoard his battery life, leaving him with 4-5% more energy than the rest of the field. As Marti put it, “We didn’t expect Andretti to do the strategy that they did, but the pace that they set played into our advantage.”

Marti then pulled off an inspired drive, waiting until Lap 35 to deploy his final ATTACK MODE. He fought his way up to fourth on the road, including a stunning final-second move on Nyck de Vries. Following post-race penalties for Antonio Felix da Costa and Felipe Drugovich, Marti was promoted to second. It was a perfectly executed strategy that proves, once again, that these races are won by the finest of margins.