Oliver Turvey was forced to settle for 12th place at the Mexico City E-Prix after a season-best qualifying performance.

Beginning the fourth event of the campaign competitively, NIO driver Turvey, from Langwathby, near Penrith, posted the fifth fastest time in opening practice and qualified inside the top 10, just 0.158 seconds shy of making the superpole session.

Turvey’s team-mate Tom Dillmann also delivered his best starting position of season five, securing 13th place on the grid.

Despite carrying strong pace into the race, the start didn’t go to plan for either of NIO’s drivers as they both shuffled down the order.

Turvey and Dillmann both fought back, though, into 12th and 16th respectively before a serious accident resulted in red flags on lap three.

With the cars finally released from the pit lane behind the safety car for a couple of laps, Turvey maintained 12th place for some time before being edged down to 14th but, during an edge-of-the-seat final lap, the Cumbrian climbed back into the top 12.

Dillmann’s race ebbed and flowed, dropping to 18th at one stage, but he was also able to capitalise like Turvey on the last lap to end Saturday’s race in 15th.

Penrith-born 31-year-old Turvey said: “We were quite competitive in first practice and we have made some positive steps forwards.

“Unfortunately, qualifying was so close, we were only a couple of tenths away from superpole and ended up P10. The start of the race was tricky, I think we were just in the wrong place which was unfortunate.

“I was trying to hold position and fight for points but I struggled to hold on and manage the energy, so we had to settle for P12 in the end.”

Team principal Gerry Hughes added: “While the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez has delivered another thrilling race, the final results were not what we had hoped for coming in to this weekend.

“The qualifying margins are always tight at this circuit but Oliver certainly had a good crack at it in the groups stage, narrowly missing out on progressing to superpole.

“The start of the race saw a number of wheel-to-wheel battles where, unfortunately, both NIO drivers lost vital positions prior to the red flag halting play.

“After the restart, both drivers managed to settle into a bit of a rhythm, managing to escape further damage while racing to the flag to finish just outside the top 10.

“The result does not reflect the commitment that the whole team continues to apply to optimising the performance of the NIO 004 chassis.”