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Added on the 13/05/2019 09:11:26 - Copyright : Auto Moto EN
DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne ended the remarkable streak of different winners in the first eight races of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, to take victory at the Monaco E-Prix and stand atop of the Drivers' Championship.Starting on pole position, after fastest qualifier Oliver Rowland was issued a three-place grid penalty following an incident last time out in Paris, Frenchman Vergne led the Monaco E-Prix from lights to flag, to become the first driver to win two races this season and end the streak of eight consecutive winners.Despite the demotion, Nissan e.dams driver Rowland produced a fantastic drive to claim second place ahead of Felipe Massa – the Brazilian holding off a late attack from Pascal Wehrlein to record his first podium finish switching to Formula E in the summer, and a popular result for his Monaco-based Venturi team.Previous championship leader Robin Frijns and title-chasing Lucas di Grassi both had their races ended by collisions with BMW’s Alex Sims, as Vergne took the Championship lead by five points.DS Techeetah’s victory extends their lead in the Team’s Championship ahead of the next E-Prix in Berlin in two weeks’ time.Britain’s Sam Bird suffered heartbreak on the final lap having looked to have produced the drive of the day to rise up from 14th to sixth only to crash on the Rascasse corner of the final lap and suffer his fourth pointless race in a row since topping the Drivers’ Championship.Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans impressed with a six place finish, having started 13th on the grid following a 10-place penalty for an infringement in qualifying.
For the first time in Formula E’s history, a complete grid of 24 cars will go head-to-head around the 21 turn, 2.494km circuit - with German giants Mercedes-Benz and Porsche going head-to-head with rivals Audi and BMW for the first time in any international series - solidifying the most competitive line-up in motorsport. The suspense of pre-season testing didn’t disappoint, with 22 cars setting times within a single second of each other. BMW i Andretti Motorsport debutant Maximilian Guenther topped the timesheets in his first public outing for the German-marque, with MAHINDRA RACING’s Pascal Wehrlein in second and GEOX DRAGON’s newest recruit, Nico Mueller in third.In Formula E, experience is everything, and that was demonstrated with both Mercedes-Benz and Porsche doing limited running compared to the rest of the pack, with the Porsche pairing and Andre Lotterer and Neel Jani - and Mercedes-Benz EQ duo Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries getting to grips with new machinery.Last year in Diriyah, a wet morning scuppered chances of a full qualifying session but Antonio Felix da Costa managed to put it on Julius Baer pole position for the first time in the Gen2 era. An exhilarating track with a lot of camber created an electrifying spectacle with the Portuguese driver bringing it home for BMW’s first win as a manufacturer in the sport.Following a drive-through penalty for a technical infringement, reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) had to settle for second place with Jerome D’Ambrosio rounding out the podium places in his first race with MAHINDRA RACING.
The Frenchman produced a textbook drive from pole position to hold off an aggressive challenge from Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans to open up a massive 32 point gap with closest challenger Lucas Di Grassi suffering a nightmare day to leave with one point.Home favourite Sebastien Buemi gave Swiss fans something to smile about, taking third place to round off a brilliant week in which he won 24 Hours of Le Mans with Fernando Alonso the weekend before.The first corner of the race brought out a red flag after Mahindra Racing's Pascal Werhlein was squeezed into the chicane wall to cause a 10-car pile-up as Robin Frijns saw his Championship hopes fade by having his race ended by a shunt from Jerome D’Ambrosio during the commotion. Di Grassi looked to have made up 11 places after using the escape road to avoid the carnage but FIA stewards decided to restart the race in grid order due to the overtake being under a yellow flag which resulted in a confrontation between drivers and marshals during the delay led by the Brazilian.Once the race restarted Evans was pushing Vergne hard as he activated Attack Mode but a well-timed full-course yellow helped the Frenchman out as Pascal Wehrlein ground to a halt.
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Di Grassi took just seven minutes to overturn Stoffel Vandoorne and pole-sitter Sebastien Buemi from third place and quickly opened a big gap for the entirety of the race as Audi made it two wins in two years.Audi’s major local rival BMW had to settle for fourth through Antonio Felix Da Costa. Buemi took second place, his first podium of the season, after some excellent use of Attack Mode to take back the position from the BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver who soon dropped behind Jean-Eric Vergne. Reigning champion Vergne was back to his tenacious best as he carved through the opposition from eighth position and maintained his position at the top of the Drivers Standings while teammate Andre Lotterer was forced out of the race with battery issues.The result saw the top five drivers in the Championship take a big step away from the chasing pack with Vergne leading Di Grassi by six points at the top.
DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne ended the remarkable streak of different winners in the first eight races of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, to take victory at the Monaco E-Prix and stand atop of the Drivers' Championship.Starting on pole position, after fastest qualifier Oliver Rowland was issued a three-place grid penalty following an incident last time out in Paris, Frenchman Vergne led the Monaco E-Prix from lights to flag, to become the first driver to win two races this season and end the streak of eight consecutive winners.Despite the demotion, Nissan e.dams driver Rowland produced a fantastic drive to claim second place ahead of Felipe Massa – the Brazilian holding off a late attack from Pascal Wehrlein to record his first podium finish switching to Formula E in the summer, and a popular result for his Monaco-based Venturi team.Previous championship leader Robin Frijns and title-chasing Lucas di Grassi both had their races ended by collisions with BMW’s Alex Sims, as Vergne took the Championship lead by five points.DS Techeetah’s victory extends their lead in the Team’s Championship ahead of the next E-Prix in Berlin in two weeks’ time.Britain’s Sam Bird suffered heartbreak on the final lap having looked to have produced the drive of the day to rise up from 14th to sixth only to crash on the Rascasse corner of the final lap and suffer his fourth pointless race in a row since topping the Drivers’ Championship.Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans impressed with a six place finish, having started 13th on the grid following a 10-place penalty for an infringement in qualifying.
With seven different winners from seven different teams from the first seven races, this has been the most unpredictable Formula E season ever with Jaguar and Mitch Evans both winning their first ever E-Prix last time out in Rome. Mahindra Racing's Jerome D'Ambrosio currently leads the Drivers Championship by a point although any of the top 11 could leave Paris leading the standings and just ten points separates the top seven.
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