A gearbox problem during the pit-stop cost Stephane Sarrazin the chance to challenge at the front of the grid in Miami.

The French driver was running in P5 as he entered the pit lane, but the Toyota LMP1 driver was in the pit-lane for two minutes and four seconds, one minute and one second longer than he had to be.

Sarrazin’s pit-stop problem caused the 39-year old to come out in 19th place. Sarrazin’s gearbox problem continued throughout the second half of the race, which caused his retirement eight laps from the end.

Sarrazin spoke exclusively to Formula E Zone about the problems he had during the Miami ePrix.

“My first car was good, I was fighting for the top five positions and there were five cars within three seconds, which was a very tight battle and when I pitted for my pitstop, my car was not ready, we had a gearbox issue, which was really bad because it was really possible to finish with big points and have a very good result. When I went back on track my gearbox was still not working and I was stuck in third gear, so I came back into the pits to retire,” said Sarrazin.

Sarrazin also admitted that the Venturi team have not had the best of luck so far this season. The French driver is sure that if you don’t have an issue throughout the race, you are more than likely to finish in the top five, but Venturi have had a problem in every race so far and, therefore, Venturi have been unable to finish in the top five.

“In Formula E if you finish a race without crashing or having a problem you will finish in the top five. At the moment, we have not been able to do it,” said Sarrazin.

Despite the issues Venturi have had so far this season, Sarrazin is hopeful that that the team can have a strong weekend in Long Beach.

“I am really looking forward to it, I had good pace in Miami and I think I could have won or finished second, but we will see what will happen but I am excited about it.” said Sarrazin.