Nissan team principal Tommaso Volpe says a data issue is to blame for Oliver Rowland losing a certain victory in the second race of the Misano E-Prix.

Rowland started the final lap 1.5 seconds ahead of TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein having pushed on to gap the German, but slowed at Turn 5 as his allotment of usable energy ran out.

Volpe said the team was trying to get its heads around the problem, suggesting that incorrect data resulted in skewed calculations.

“We’re trying to understand because it looked like everything was under control in terms of data, energy and battery temperatures so there must be something wrong in the data we were working with,” he said. “To be honest, we don’t know yet. We’re trying to understand, it was really, really strange.

Emphasizing that it was definitely not a mechanical issue, Volpe added, “I think it’s more on the data, on the control systems. The system had some wrong information, like the number of laps, because it looked like everything was under control and Oliver didn’t report any mechanical issue or anything like this.

“It’s too soon, really — we need to look into the process and all the data we manage in the garage to understand.”

He was quick to praise Rowland who, had he won, would have been the first driver to sweep a doubleheader weekend since Wehrlein did it in Saudi Arabia at the beginning of last season. He had a string of four consecutive podiums going into Sunday, including victory in Saturday’s race following the disqualification of Antonio Felix da Costa.

“It’s really a shame, he did everything perfectly,” said Volpe. “The whole race, he managed perfectly like yesterday and it could have been a second win in a row but this is motorsport. Yesterday was very tough for Antonio, so these things happen.”

Nevertheless, Volpe is able to see the positives from the Misano E-Prix weekend where, once again, Nissan was able to mix with the front-runners in the race despite having an inferior package to the likes of the Porsche and Jaguar runners.

“The team is doing a huge step forwards and the big positive of this race is not only was Oli one step from the victory, but Sacha (Fenestraz) did a great performance — he actually finished P6 (later moved up to fifth, his best finish of the season, as a result of a penalty for Jake Hughes -ED),” said Volpe. “So I think overall the weekend (was) very positive; it is of course frustrating that Oliver was a few corners from the victory.

“Again, as long as we find what was the issue and we manage it for next time, it’s frustrating but sometimes it could be a puncture or…. It’s motorsport — there are always some factors that you cannot control.”