A TIME penalty when leading meant Oliver Rowland did not collect any points in the first race of the new Formula E season in São Paulo, Brazil this week.

After setting the fastest time in practice, the 31-year-old from Penistone finished second in qualifying and moved into first on the opening corner of the race. He would lose and regain the lead twice before – after a red flag brought the race to a stop – he received ‘a drive-through penalty for overpower’ and finished 14th.

Rowland said: “We were strong in practice and qualifying, and it was great to start on the front row.

“The first half of the race was perfect, taking the lead at turn one and managing the energy really well.

“We were looking good to win but then the red flag came. We made some mistakes and unfortunately dropped out of the points.

“The positives are that the car is fast, I was able to lead and still be energy efficient but we made too many errors, which is something we will aim to rectify in the next rounds.”

Tommaso Volpe, managing director and team principal of Nissan Formula E, said: “It was a very unfortunate race, where our finishing positions were heavily compromised by penalties.

“It’s obviously frustrating not to score points, but the result doesn’t do justice to our performance on track.

“We displayed fantastic pace both in qualifying and the first half of the race, and Oli showed he had the potential to win. However, we need to accept our mistakes and work on the aspects that cost us, both on the car and in race management, and make sure it doesn’t happen again. We proved how competitive we can be this season, and we’ll be looking to bounce back in Mexico.”

Rowland, who is based in Dubai, is now due to return to the UK over Christmas. The next race is in Mexico City on January 11.