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BMW's Sims adamant he didn't hit Mortara in Santiago Formula E race

Alexander Sims is adamant he did not hit Edoardo Mortara into a spin during last weekend's Santiago ABB FIA Formula E race but has accepted the penalty he received.

Sims was challenging Venturi's Mortara for fourth in the middle part of the race when Mortara spun at the tight Turns 8/9/10 chicane, falling behind the BMW Andretti driver as a result.

 
Sims secured third on the road after a brief battle with Audi's Daniel Abt, but was given a post-race time penalty for the Mortara incident.

Speaking before the result of an unsuccessful protest lodged by his BMW team was announced, Sims told Autosport: "Honestly, I didn't feel a single thing - I didn't feel contact.

"Perhaps it was the lightest of touches and that's what spun him around.

"I went to the stewards immediately, not to try and wheedle my way out of the situation, but just to give my honest view that I genuinely didn't feel any contact there.

"We were very close, but I didn't feel there was a touch. We're looking at different camera angles because if I did touch him, fair enough, the penalty is what the penalty is. But that's how I saw it."

BMW presented additional video and photo evidence on Sims's behalf, but the protest was rejected. Sims maintained he did not feel any contact when approached after the protest's outcome was revealed, but said he accepted the decision.

Asked for his view of the incident, Mortara, who ended up fourth in the final classification, said: "What happened, happened.

"I don't think it's that smart what he did but I think it was a bit a mistake from inside.

"He also paid the price, so in the end I'm happy with the fourth place and I'm not really thinking about what happened with Alexander."

Sims progressed from eighth on the grid to reach third in the extreme heat of the race, which was just his third FE start.

"I really enjoyed it out there - it was challenging, we were obviously trying to manage the temperatures," he said.

"With the two FCYs it made it slightly less stressful but nevertheless, it was hot.

"It was great fun to be honest - I had quite a few laps towards the end of the race on my own so we were just trying to manage the pace.

"I've got to give full credit to the BMW engineers for doing a great job with all the work they did before the weekend anticipating the hot temperatures and in the race as well, giving me loads of information to let me do my job."

 
Sims has been in podium contention for the last two races and, although he has not been able to convert either opportunity, said he "put the frustration behind me very quickly".

"I keep pinching myself and saying it's a lovely situation to be in, three races into Formula E and I should have had two podiums and potentially one win," he added.

Zdroj: autosport.com