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Tag: Jean-Eric Vergne
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Jean Eric Vergne wins historic Formula E race in Hyderabad
- Jean-Éric Vergne wins the first-ever ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race in India
- Nick Cassidy finishes second for Envision Racing, António Félix da Costa promoted to third after investigation demotes Sébastien Buemi
- Calamity strikes Jaguar TCS Racing as a Sam Bird collision with Mitch Evans forces both drivers to retire
- Sell-out crowd of more than 25,000 fans attend the 2023 Greenko Hyderabad E-Prix
HYDERABAD, Sat. 11 Feb. 2023 – Jean-Éric Vergne (DS PENSKE) held on to win an extraordinary first-ever ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race in India in front of a sellout crowd and a host of dignitaries, Bollywood celebrities and sports stars.
Vergne fought hard in the final third of the race to stay ahead of Envision Racing pair Nick Cassidy and Sébastien Buemi, though António Félix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) ultimately took third after the Swiss was penalised post-race.
It’s Vergne’s first trip to the top step of the Formula E podium since Rome in April 2021 (Season 7) and he achieved it in style. Vergne made his way to the front of the pack on lap 15 of 32 (plus one lap following a safety car), the double champion sweeping by Buemi at the hairpin after the Jaguar TCS Racing pair removed one another from the equation two laps prior.
That incident saw Sam Bird make a lunge on the dirty side of the track on fourth-placed Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan Formula E Team). The Brit could not slow his I-TYPE 6 in time, colliding with teammate Mitch Evans – who was in third at the time – pitching the Kiwi’s car into a spin. Both Jaguars were ultimately forced into retirement with the unlucky Fenestraz also left tumbling down the order in a race where a podium double looked a possibility for Jaguar.
Vergne led the way from that moment but had his mirrors full of Cassidy’s Envision Racing machine as the chequered flag drew closer. The New Zealander had managed to gather up an extra four percentage points of usable energy on Vergne come the closing stages of the race. However, Vergne is regarded as the consummate Formula E fighter and used every trick in the book to keep Cassidy at bay and cross the line first in what many will regard as one of his best wins and one that will live long in the memory on Formula E’s first visit to India in front of a sold-out crowd of over 25,000 people.
Buemi followed home in third but an overpower infringement saw him demoted to 15th spot via 17-second penalty, equivalent to a drive-through. That promoted TAG Heuer Porsche’s António Félix da Costa onto the podium in his 100th race, the Season 6 champion having started the race in 13th. Teammate Pascal Wehrlein crossed the line fourth after picking his way through the order from 12th on the grid.
Sérgio Sette Câmara avoided trouble and climbed through the pack from 15th on the starting grid to produce NIO 333 Racing’s best result since Berlin in Season 4.
Meanwhile, Oliver Rowland made a move for the podium on Buemi – not aware of the Swiss’ impending penalty at the time – with just a lap to go. It didn’t work out and saw him shuffled to sixth. Nevertheless, Rowland collected his first points of the season for Mahindra Racing in the team’s home race. Norman Nato steered to seventh and the TAG Heuer Fastest Lap.
Reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) finished in eighth for his best result of the season so far, while André Lotterer(Avalanche Andretti Formula E) and Edoardo Mortara (Maserati MSG Racing) rounded out the top 10.
Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti Formula E) was the victim of an over-enthusiastic René Rast move on lap 26 at the hairpin – the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team driver outbraking himself and rear-ending Dennis’ car. That proved costly for the Brit, who was running comfortably in fourth and on for a strong points haul – particularly given the strong finish for the other man out front in the standings, Pascal Wehrlein.
That left Wehrlein with an extended 18-point advantage on Dennis, with Vergne leaping to third in the Drivers’ standings. TAG Heuer Porsche has taken a 23-point lead over Avalanche Andretti in the Teams’ World Championship.
In addition to the sellout capacity crowd of more than 25,000 fans, the historic race was attended by FIA president Mohammed Ben Sulayem and Sri K T Rama Rao, Minister for IT, Industries & Commerce, Government of Telangana. Also enjoying the electric racing action were Indian cricket legend Sachin Tendulkar, current Indian cricketers Shikhar Dhawan, Deepak Chahar and Yuzvendra Chahal along with his actor and choreographer wife, Dhanashree Verma.
Jean-Éric Vergne, No. 25, DS PENSKE, said:
“I’m very, very happy. It was a tough race – I had to defend quite hard at the end but we somehow managed to win it. It was a clean race, no mistakes. Very happy with the win today. It’s good for everyone’s heart in our team. For the first few races it’s good to boost it with a good race like that so couldn’t be happier.
“I like new tracks – I think it’s cool. Especially this one – it’s a lot of fun. When there is a lot of little secrets to find on the track, I probably find them quickly enough.”
Nick Cassidy, No. 37, Envision Racing, said:
“I mean I had a really good car today – huge thanks to all my guys. I think at the races this year we’ve been pretty good. I really feel for Mitch and Jaguar today because they’re a great partner and they’ve started the season very strongly. I think the package we have is really strong and so I’m super sorry to see them go out the race like that.
“(On reason behind having no duels this season but getting on the podium). Apart from we’re good in races? Honestly, we’re there in quali as well. Riyadh, Mexico and here, the difference between P1 and being in the duals and being P5 has been two-tenths. There’s not a big margin between 5th and starting 10th or potentially pole. That day will come.”
António Felix da Costa, No. 13, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, said:
“It felt like it meant to be. The race actually started really well and then I got squeezed by Dennis and I lost a lot of positions. But we stayed calm and worked our way back to the front slowly, and managed our energy. It hasn’t been an easy start for me. It was an emotional day for me looking back at the now 100 races or the 99 races before and where I am and things not working out like I want them to be. I can’t be satisfied with the way I am qualifying at the moment. Having said that, I have an amazing team behind me, always pushing me and giving me the tools. So I know it’s only a matter of time before we do a better job in qualifying and obviously the car can race really well. And yeah I’m really happy I came all the way to India and got a podium in my 100th race.
“So much happened. I got angry, I was happy, I was calm, I was stressed. But again, I worked well with the team throughout the whole race and I guess that’s the experience of 100 races if I’m honest -starting there and coming all the way here.”
Round 5 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the 2023 Cape Town E-Prix on Saturday, 25 February, the first time Formula E has raced in South Africa.
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Jean-Eric Vergne scores an impressive victory: Formula E Round 6
Jean-Eric Vergne scored an impressive lights-to-flag victory today, 17 March, in the Punta del Este E-Prix – round six of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship. The TECHEETAH driver had to work hard for his second win of the season, as he was chased right from the start by reigning champion Lucas di Grassi in his Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler machine.
Earlier in the day, fans were treated to a flat-out qualifying session, although as the intensity rose in Superpole, a number of drivers exceeded track limits resulting in a shuffling of the order before the grid formed up. This resulted in Vergne and di Grassi on the front row, with DS Virgin Racing’s Alex Lynn and NIO Formula E Team’s Oliver Turvey on the second row.
As the lights went out, the front runngers made it through the first few corners in grid order, but the race was quickly neutralised by a safety car period to recover the stricken car of Nick Heidfeld, whose Mahindra stopped on track with a technical problem.
After racing resumed, Renault e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi, who had made it back through on Vergne’s team-mate Andre Lotterer after being passed early on, saw his streak of two wins in Punta del Este come to an end as he clipped the wall on lap 11. This damaged the rear of the car and forcing him to retire.
Back at the front, the Brazilian driver di Grassi was right under the rear wing of the leader, and as the two entered the pit lane for their mandatory car change there was nothing between them. They exited the pits as they entered them, and on the out-lap di Grassi drew alongside Vergne but he was unable to make the move stick. Despite losing time in the attempted move, it wasn’t long before he was putting pressure on Vergne once again, and this was to be the story of the remainder of the race. Di Grassi repeatedly came within inches of the lead, but ultimately the Frenchman in front held on to take the chequered flag in first place.
Behind the lead pair there was another tight battle, this time between the DS Virgin Racing team-mates Alex Lynn and Sam Bird. Bird started the race in ninth, but quickly made up positions and ended up leap-frogging his stable-mate who faded in the latter stages. Bird latched onto the back of the fighting front two, but while he was ready to make the most of any incidents ahead, ultimately he secured a well-earned return to the podium in third place.
Despite falling back, Lynn still took his best finish of the season so far in sixth.
One of the stand-out performances of the day came from Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans, who had qualified on the front row but was penalised as the weight distribution did not conform to the technical regulations. This meant he had to fight through from 16th place to an impressive fourth, with a sensational pass on Alex Lynn one of the highlights of the race.
Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist finished in fifth place and, like Evans, had a strong fight through the field after a difficult morning for the team, which has been in strong form since the start of the year.
Englishman Oliver Turvey couldn’t replicate his maiden podium last time out in Mexico for the NIO team and collected a handful of points a place further back in seventh.
Another storming drive to finish in the points came from Argentinean Jose Maria Lopez. The DRAGON driver sat on the penultimate row of the grid as the lights went out and fought his way through to finish in a valiant eighth position. Lopez also took the honour of setting fastest lap and earning an extra point.
Jerome D’Ambrosio jumped up a couple of place in ninth and Maro Engel rounded-out the top-10 with the final point for Venturi.
The next round of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship will see the all-electric series race on the streets of Rome for the first time on 14 April.
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, said: “I’m obviously very happy. I’m not focussing on the championship, but I’m focussing on each race. Obviously winning the race today in those conditions is to me one of the best drives. Racing against Lucas, who is the current title holder, was really tough. I don’t think I’ve won that many races but it was one of the ones I’m most happy with in terms of my driving. Today winning races proves that hard work pays off. We’re the only private team and for us to beat the other guys, we have to work twice as hard as them.”
Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, said: “First of all, congratulations to Jean-Eric and Sam. For Jean-Eric on the win, but for Sam to come from ninth on the grid. It was a really tough race for me, and to be honest JEV didn’t make many mistakes, I tried very hard – and I had the fastest car today. Starting second, on the dirty side, I tried very hard at the end to overtake him. I’m very satisfied with the car that I have but today we could’ve got 20 points and we only got 18. We know that in Formula E, when you get the chance you have to grab it. JEV defended very well so there was very little margin for me to attack, I think he did a small mistake coming into the last sector – we ended up touching a little bit and got super close. I tried my best, the car was super competitive – that won’t be the last time the team will fight for victories.”
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, said: “We were a little bit fortunate with Buemi having an issue, getting damage. I don’t know what happened to Daniel in the second stint, but that was again another position gifted to me. The pace was good today to be fair, I just wanted these two to fight a little bit more. I ran out of laps but a very strong race, it was nice to get another podium and we needed it from where we started. It was damage limitation in the championship as JEV is streaking away as he did an amazing job, and it’s great to see Lucas back on it too. One thing I would like to say is last week, Britain lost an amazing journalist – a great man who brought so much energy to others. It’s not a win, it’s the best I could do, but I would like to dedicate this to Henry Hope-Frost.”
2018 CBMM Niobium Punta del Este E-Prix (Rd 6)
1 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, 50:43.809s (28)
2 – Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, +0.447s (18)
3 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +2.611s (15)
4 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +4.075s (12)
5 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +4.224s (10)
6 – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +7.672s (8)
7 – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, +11.818s (6)
8 – Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON, +12.612s (5)
9 – Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, +22.242s (2)
10 – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +26.293s (1)
11 – Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +27.335s
12 – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, +38.731s
13 – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, +39.926s
14 – Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, +43.139s
15 – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +47.194s
16 – Tom Blomqvist, Andretti Formula E, +59.299s
17 – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, +1 LAction from Formula E race on Saturday. An FIA image ap
DNF – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, 29 Laps
DNF – Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 25 Laps
DNF – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, 1 LapDriver standings
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 109
Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing – 79
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 76
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams – 52
Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 45Team standings
TECHEETAH – 127
Mahindra Racing – 100
DS Virgin Racing – 93
Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 86
Renault e.dams – 59
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 58
Venturi Formula E Team – 35
NIO Formula E Team – 33
Andretti Formula E – 20
DRAGON – 19Source: FIA press release
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Second win for Jean-Eric Vergne in a nail-biting finish: Formula E
Jean-Eric Vergne fended off his team-mate Andre Lotterer in a tense fight around the streets of Santiago to claim his second victory in Formula E and the first one-two in the history of the electric street racing series.
The pair exchanged blows in the closing stages of the race with a gaggle of cars waiting behind to pounce, ensuring a nail-biting finish to the inaugural E-Prix in the Chilean capital.
Vergne led away from Julius Baer pole position with a number of cars making moves behind. Lotterer jumped Sebastien Buemi off the line to move into second place, but Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver Nelson Piquet Jr. caught them both unaware with a bold late-braking move around the outside of the first corner.
As the field streamed through the opening section, the squeeze came in the mid-field with Jose Maria Lopez running out of road in close proximity with Sam Bird and hitting the wall on the outside of Turn 2.
The safety car was deployed to clear both Lopez and the stricken Venturi of Maro Engel who went into the barriers at Turn 7. Piquet looked to have lost out on the restart, but piled the pressure on Vergne with a move for the lead only a few corners later.
Vergne placed his car well and held off a fast-charging Piquet despite a bump from behind, which wouldn’t be the only close-call in his wing mirrors for the remainder of the race.
Approaching the pit-stop phase, Vergne started to extend his lead to over three seconds as Piquet fell into the grasps of Lotterer. The German scythed his way into second place past Piquet and set his sights on his team-mate.
Lotterer slowly reeled in Vergne moving into his slipstream and drew alongside into the main overtaking point at Turn 1. Both drivers came perilously close to exchanging paintwork, but Vergne held his nerve and forced Lotterer to retreat.
However, Lotterer hadn’t thrown in the towel yet and tried to mirror the move again but misjudged his braking and hit the back of Vergne. Smoke poured from Vergne’s wheels as his team-mate was pushing him from behind.
Despite the helping hand from Lotterer, both cars managed to avoid the wall and the threat of other cars behind to deliver maximum points for TECHEETAH and vault the team to the top of the standings. It marks the first victory for Vergne since the season-finale in Montreal last year, which was also his first in Formula E.
Joining the two TECHEETAH drivers on the podium was Sebastien Buemi, showing once again that the form of Renault e.dams in Hong Kong was merely a blip. Buemi slipped backwards on the long run down into the first corner and struggled to match the pace of his rivals in the early phase of the race.
Buemi and Bird re-enacted their close duel in Marrakesh in the battle for fourth place, with the DS Virgin Racing driver hounding the back of his gearbox. The group held station until the mid-race car swaps, which saw Rosenqvist leap up the order ahead of Bird – allowing Buemi to focus on Piquet and surpass his fellow champion to secure a spot on the podium.
Rosenqvist – who entered Santiago as the points leader and the winner of the past two races – started way back in 14th after a dismal qualifying session, but salvaged points in fourth place.
Bird picked-up the additional point for fastest lap and took the chequered flag in fifth after a slow pit-stop and benefitting from Piquet’s late lunge on Buemi into Turn 1. Piquet looked to re-take the position he lost earlier but locked his brakes and ended up losing time reversing out of the run-off area.
Piquet’s team-mate Mitch Evans followed close behind in seventh, with Jerome D’Ambrosio, Antonio Felix da Costa and Nico Prost rounding out the top 10 points-paying positions.
The next stop on the Formula E calendar sees the series return to Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez for the third edition of the Mexico City E-Prix for round five of the FIA Formula E Championship on March 3.
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, said: “The race has been great for me today, I qualified first and won the race, it cannot get any better. I think the first stint was really good and then after a few laps in the second car my lap trigger activated one extra lap. I have no idea how it happened but, basically I was doing the race one lap longer – that’s why I had a huge amount of pushing from my team-mate Andre who was then on a different strategy. It was fair racing – at one point we did collide but there was nothing really we could do, I decided to go on the inside and he went differently so we just collided. I think we had eight wheels locked actually, so I’m extremely lucky. It’s the first one-two in the history of Formula E!”
Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, said: “I’m extremely happy about this – the first two races probably looked worse than they were but it was promising on pace in the race, and I only tested three days in Valencia, so it takes time. These guys have a lot of experience, and there are no bad drivers. I’ve been working hard, the team has helped me a lot to do some work in the simulator, I’m really happy to be JEV’s team-mate as he’s helped me a lot as well. I’ve had pace all weekend, in qualifying it went well, I may have hit the wall a bit but I went for it, so that’s what matters! I’m still finding my way in the car, the race and to overtake – it’s a different world. At one stage we lost radio, so I didn’t know what the game was so I tried overtaking him and got so close and nearly didn’t make the corner, but that’s what I’m still learning – how to calculate everything.”
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, said: “First of all, I have to say congratulations to TECHEETAH as they are the customer team and they were faster than us today – well done to them, they’ve done a great job. For us, I think we could’ve done a bit better, but I lost two places at the start, and then I had massive wheel-spin. At the pit stops I thought I could’ve overtaken the Jaguar, but we were scared of an unsafe release, so we stayed in the garage to avoid that. Towards the end it was difficult because I was very quick, but Rosenqvist tried to overtake me – but not today, which was important!”
2018 Santiago E-Prix (Rd 4)
1 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, 1:01:24.514s (28)
2 – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, +1.154s (18)
3 – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +1.959s (15)
4 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +2.793s (12)
5 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +4.490s (11)
6 – Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +6.364s (8)
7 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +7.099s (6)
8 – Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, +13.308s (4)
9 – Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +14.811s (2)
10 – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +21.092s (1)
11 – Tom Blomqvist, Andretti Formula E, +32.924s
12 – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, +44.127s
13 – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, +49.398s
14 – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, +1:12.282sDNF – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, 26 Laps
DNF – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, 23 Laps
DNF – Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, 21 Laps
DNF – Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, 11 Laps
DNF – Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON
DNF – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E TeamDriver standings
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 71
Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing – 66
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 61
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams – 37
Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 33Team standings
TECHEETAH – 89
Mahindra Racing – 87
DS Virgin Racing – 69
Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 54
Renault e.dams – 44
Venturi Formula E Team – 30
Andretti Formula E – 14
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 12
DRAGON – 12
NIO Formula E Team – 9eom/FIA release
