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Nissan e.dams team manager Francois Sicard says he was not expecting Oliver Rowland to adapt so quickly to ABB FIA Formula E.

Rowland has starred in FE since his last-minute arrival at Nissan following Alexander Albon's exit from the squad in favour of a 2019 Toro Rosso Formula 1 drive.

That meant Rowland conducted just one day of pre-season testing in mixed conditions that impacted his adaptation to the series.

Rowland has recently outperformed experienced team-mate Sebastien Buemi and raced at the front of the field, most recently securing pole in Sanya and finishing the race in second.

Sicard told Autosport: "To be honest, I was not expecting him [Rowland] to be quick so early in the season.

"He was not involved in the development test.

"He started the collective test on the last day and it was raining. So he had to learn the car during the events, which is not the best way to learn this kind of car, especially with the new generation of cars which are much more difficult to drive.

"So [I'm] really impressed by the job he is doing, and he has a really strong team-mate who's a reference for everybody in the championship at the moment.

"They are getting along very well, for sure Seb helps him and was very comfortable to give him some tricks and he learned very quickly.

"We are very happy, we have a very good bunch of drivers at the moment."

When Rowland was asked if he had expected to perform so strongly in his first full FE season, Rowland told Autosport: "It's difficult to say.

"Obviously I'd like to have thought so, but I never expected it.

"I hoped I could come in and impress, but it's a little bit like when you do a junior formula, you have to always choose the right team and you have to be in a good position.

"And obviously Stoffel [Vandoorne] at certain points of his career was in cars that were capable of winning, and then he comes here [racing for HWA] and for sure they have a little bit of work to do.

"So it just shows that you can quite easily pick the wrong team and not get a career in motorsport. Obviously, everybody knows they're very capable.

"I'm very lucky, I'm in a good team. It's nice that I'm in a team where I can show my ability."