Tag: Formula E

Felix Rosenqvist has won for the second time in the first three races of the 2017/18 FIA Formula E Championship with victory in a closely-fought Marrakesh E-Prix. The Mahindra driver started the race from third but eventually overcame pole-man Sebastien Buemi in the closing stages to secure the win and take the lead in the championship standings for the first time in his Formula E career.

Buemi made a strong getaway in his Renault e.dams machine, leading second-placed starter Sam Bird in the DS Virgin Racing car with Rosenqvist third. The top trio was undoubtedly the class of the field, pulling out a healthy margin to the chasing pack, although Bird was struggling with a car issue in the first half of the race and was passed by the Mahindra on lap 16.

Reigning champion Lucas di Grassi was also having technical difficulties and endured a difficult day despite showing strong pace. After getting into the super-pole shootout, he began experiencing issues with his Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler car which meant that, despite starting the race well, he would eventually be forced to retire with the issues from qualifying appearing to recur.

As the top three broke away and Di Grassi dropped out of the running, Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Nelson Piquet Jr had another strong showing to finish fourth for the second time this year. He had dropped behind Lopez in the early laps but got past during the mid-race car swaps and stayed there for the remainder of the laps

With the front three having broken away there was intense racing further back from fifth to tenth place. The TECHEETAH of Jean-Eric Vergne would take the chequered flag in fifth to continue his consistent run of strong scores, while Lopez ended up an impressive sixth on his Dragon debut.

The battle for seventh was perhaps the most heated of all, with several drivers clashing in the latter stages in a bid to make a pass stick. Ultimately a robust defence from winner Rosenqvist’s team-mate Heidfeld netted him the position, while the two Venturi cars made contact with each other and then the Mahindra, resulting in Edoardo Mortara dropping back with damage and Maro Engel receiving a penalty for causing the collision that put him down to 12^th.

This late drama meant that Tom Blomqvist was able to impress on his Formula E debut for Andretti in eighth, while Alex Lynn and Daniel Abt completed the top ten for DS Virgin Racing and Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler respectively.

This third round of the 2017/18 FIA Formula E Championship has left an intriguing championship order, with Rosenqvist leading Bird by four points ahead of Vergne, Piquet Jr and Mortara. The next round takes place for the first time in Santiago de Chile on 3 February.

Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, said: “At one point of the day I was going to be settling somewhere in the middle of the mid-field after free practice as we were struggling a lot. We then made some analysis and in qualifying we found out how to work the tyres properly, so that was a really good comeback before the race. Before the race, Spark told me I had to change my battery thirty-minutes before jumping in the car before the grid, so I was praying that my second car would be ready. Big thanks to the Mahindra guys. I think I was a little bit lucky with Lucas dropping out of the race quite early on, and obviously Sam had a problem with his car on the main straight as well. I tried to keep calm and look at my energy, because this race wasn’t really about the temperature but more about energy, and when the moment was right I went for it – super happy!”

Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, said: “I had an issue with the water pump and it wouldn’t start so we had to switch cars, so the car I started with was supposed to be the second one. Because of this we didn’t get FANBOOST sorted properly, so I think Felix had a bit more pace in the second stint, not much, but then I was overtaken at the end and I thought I would leave it to the last minute to use FANBOOST, but it didn’t work. I was annoyed, I didn’t properly move over to the inside and he managed to pass me, otherwise I would’ve closed the door a bit better, so I don’t know what happened. He had a little more pace and he deserved the win, so I don’t really think second is bad, but a big disappointment when you lead for most of the race.”

Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, said: “We’ve had an issue since Hong Kong which you wouldn’t have noticed from the outside. We had tried to address it but it came back, and it came back big time in the race. We actually noticed it a lot in FP2, during a 200kW lap attempt – I noticed some difficulties with the rear of the car and I came in early from my run. We thought ‘do we change it, do we not’, and anyway we said no, let’s not change the component and unfortunately it’s come to bite us a little bit in the race. But still, third place is strong points and it’s a third place with a big issue! I didn’t think I was going to finish the race in the first car, I thought I was going to be pulling over and retiring so actually we were quite relieved with the full course yellow came and saved my bacon a little bit.”

2017/18 FIA Formula E Championship Round 3 – Marrakesh

1 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, 48:04.751s (25)
2 – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +0.945s (21)
3 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +5.762s (15)
4 – Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +6.554s (13)
5 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, +12.238s (10)
6 – Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON, +16.491s (8)
7 – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +28.381s (6)
8 – Tom Blomqvist, Andretti Formula E, +32.380s (4)
9 – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +33.520s (2)
10 – Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, +40.951s (1)
11 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +46.278s
12 – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +46.915s
13 – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +53.099s
14 – Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +1:01.116s
15 – Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, +1:13.805s
16 – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, +1 Lap
17 – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, +3 Laps

DNF – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, 17 Laps
DNF – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, 14 Laps
DNF – Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, 7 Laps

Driver standings

Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing – 54
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 50
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 43
Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 25
Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E – 24

Team standings

Mahindra Racing – 75
DS Virgin Racing – 58
TECHEETAH – 43
Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 40
Venturi Formula E Team – 30
Renault e.dams – 28
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 12
Andretti Formula E – 12
NIO Formula E Team – 9
DRAGON – 8

eom/FIA press release

The FIA Formula E Championship sparked into life for the start of the new season with a gripping opening contest in Hong Kong, where Sam Bird sealed a surprise victory despite picking up a penalty for not stopping in his allocated space during the mid-race car swap.

Bird entered the pitlane eager to retain the advantage he’d built over TECHEETAH’s Jean-Eric Vergne, but attacked his marks too aggressively on the dusty surface and skated to a halt outside the front of his garage.

He managed to jump out and into his second car without losing too much time. However, Bird didn’t make his mandatory car change in the box allocated to the driver – picking up a drive-through penalty in the process. But it wasn’t enough to stop him.

There were several contenders in a hotly-contested battle as Bird faced his former team-mate Vergne for the majority of the opening stint. Vergne led the way from pole position, fending off the fast-starting Mahindra of Nick Heidfeld.

As the cars filtered through the tight chicane of Turns 3 & 4, Formula E debutant Andre Lotterer collided with the wall – blocking a gaggle of cars behind. Lotterer was avoiding the bottleneck and pitched into the barriers on the outside, holding back Mitch Evans, Nico Prost, Edoardo Mortara and Neel Jani behind.

The E-Prix came to an abrupt halt as the incident brought out the red flags and after a delay the race got back underway behind the Safety Car. Vergne looked immediately under pressure from Bird in his mirrors and couldn’t hold him back after a lunge up the inside of the Turn 6 hairpin.

Despite serving his penalty, Bird emerged narrowly in front of the chasing pack. The British driver must have breathed a huge sigh of relief after a botched pitstop cost him a chance of fighting for the win in Hong Kong last year.

Speaking about the shock result, Bird added: “That was a really crazy race, I’m still trying to process what happened really. It’s unreal for me winning after a driving-through penalty in Formula E. I’d like to thank the team, we knew it would be tough this year with lots of close competition. When I came out the pits there was a TECHEETAH in front of me and thought it was JEV, so I was pushing hard to catch him! It turned out I was in the lead and I never in a million years expected that.”

Although, it’s a bittersweet result for Bird after being handed a 10-place grid penalty for tomorrow’s race for dangerous driving in the pitlane.

Vergne defended his position stoutly throughout the race and admitted to struggling without regen and no communication to the team over radio – making it feel like a victory for the TECHEETAH team.

He said: “This race was by far my most difficult race – I had no radio communication, I spoke to my engineer only twice in the race and I had no regen. So, if this morning somebody told me I’d have these issues, I wouldn’t even take the start of the race. To finish second off the back of this is almost like a victory to us. We’re hoping to fix things overnight and come back stronger tomorrow.”

Heidfeld saw a lot of Vergne’s rear wing throughout the E-Prix – trying to pass the Frenchman in every direction, but second place still eludes him as the Mahindra driver settled for another third-place finish.

“It’s probably one of the third places I’m least happy about,” said Heidfeld. “Hopefully this changes in the next couple of days. The team has done a good job and to finish on the podium is always a good result, and you have to focus on collecting the points for the season. JEV said he had a lot of problems – I tried hard to overtake him, but I’m not that happy as I thought it was too much.”

Reigning Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi and main rival Sebastien Buemi both failed to score. Di Grassi was forced to pit early and switched to his second car after sustaining damage to his right-rear suspension, while Buemi stopped on track with a technical glitch.

The teams and drivers don’t have long to rest, as the action gets underway again for the second helping of the Hong Kong E-Prix double-header tomorrow.

2017 HKT Hong Kong E-Prix (Rd 1) – Race results

1 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 1:17.10.486s (25)
2 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, +11.575s (21)
3 – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +12.465s (15)
4 – Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +15.324s (12)
5 – Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, +17.205s (11)
6 – Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +18.083s (8)
7 – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, +19.797s (6)
8 – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +20.904s (4)
9 – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +24.785s (2)
10 – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, +25.500s (1)
11 – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +26.202s
12 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +34.871s
13 – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +35.752s
14 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +41.174s
15 – Kamui Kobayashi, Andretti Formula E, +48.422s
16 – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, +1 Lap
17 – Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, +1 Lap
18 – Neel Jani, DRAGON, +1 Lap

DNF – Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, 34 Laps
DSQ – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, 43 Laps

Driver standings

Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 25
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 21
Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing – 15
Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 12
Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 11

Team standings

DS Virgin Racing – 29
TECHEETAH – 21
Mahindra Racing – 15
Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 12
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 11
Andretti Formula E – 8
Venturi Formula E Team – 6
Renault e.dams – 2
NIO Formula E Team – 1
DRAGON – 0

eom/FIA press release