Trulli Formula E Team will miss this weekend’s Beijing ePrix after failing to submit its cars for scrutineering due to a delay at customs when entering China.
The second Formula E season kicks off this weekend at a street circuit constructed around the Bird’s Nest stadium used for the 2008 Olympic Games, with the first practice session taking place on Friday.
However, neither of the Trulli cars, due to be piloted by Vitantonio Liuzzi and Salvador Duran, were out on track after a delay at customs caused the team to miss the scrutineering deadline.
Despite being granted an extension by Formula E officials, the team failed to get the parts to the track in time, causing both of its cars to be omitted from the entry list.
“The team claimed that key components had been held up in customs and were granted an extension to submit these for sealing,” a statement from Formula E reads. “These components were not submitted in time.
“As the car has not been scrutineered, the team is not part of the official entry list for the season two opening round, which takes place in Beijing on October 24.
“Trulli will be able to resubmit its car for scrutineering for race two of the season, the Putrajaya ePrix on November 7.”
Trulli confirmed on Friday evening that its engine parts were still being held in customs, preventing it from taking part in the race weekend.
“We are sad to announce that we have failed scrutineering as our engines and inverters are still stuck in customs here in Beijing,” a statement said. “Due to this, we will not able to participate in tomorrow’s FIA Formula E race in Beijing.”
Team principal Lucio Cavuto thanked the Formula E officials for extending the deadline and helping the team with Chinese customs, and confirmed that the parts will now be taken straight to Putrajaya.
“We are very sorry to announce that we unfortunately won’t be able to compete in tomorrow’s race as our engines and inverters are still at the Beijing customs, which has made it impossible for us to complete our cars in time for today’s scrutineering and therefore we will not be able to participate in tomorrow’s race,” Cavuto said.
“We would like to thank the FIA marshals for kindly extending the scrutineering deadline last minute. And we would also like to thank FEH and NEXTEV Team China for their support and help with the Chinese customs the last couple of days.
“We are now going to ask DHL Motorsport to handle our engines and inverters in customs, to be sent together with the rest of the team’s boxes so that they all get transported to Malaysia.
“Now we focus on Putrayaja and to ensure that this incident will never happen again.”