DS Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird sealed the first win in the Formula E Season 4 opener in Hong Kong. The victory though was nothing less than dramatic as Bird survived a drive through penalty to claim the win. Finishing second was Jean-Eric Vergne of Techeetah, who started the Hong Kong ePrix on pole but couldn't hold the lead for long over Bird's aggressive drive. Making an impressive start to the season turned out be Mahindra Racing with driver Nick Heidfeld finishing third on the podium.
Pole sitter Vergne was of to a good start in the first race of the season, while Oliver Turvey of NIO Formula E went wide and shot from seventh to third passing Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist, Lucas di Grassi, Daniel Abt and Heidfeld in the process. However, a technical problem saw Turvey's aggressive start being wasted and he eventually finished 17th in the Hong Kong ePrix.
(Mahindra Racing is off to a good start for Season 4)
Meanwhile, Bird and Heidfeld were trailing at P2 and P3 behind Vergne. However, the first half of the race had Bird take the lead from Vergne with the latter aggressively looking to snatch back the lead, and to add to his luck Bird picked up a penalty because his car swap started outside the garage. The short pitlane and the way it cuts out the final corner allowed him to rejoin in the lead, albeit with barely a car length's advantage into Turn 1.
(Bird completed the race 11.5 seconds ahead of Vergne | Photo Credit: LAT Images)
Bird held on to the position despite the penalty and eventually went on to finish the season opener with a lead of 11.5 seconds. At the back, Heidfeld was putting pressure on Vergne for P2 but Vergne held on to the spot with a lot of defensive driving. A move which received a lot of flak post race from Heidfeld.
Further down, Buemi and di Grassi were having a duel of their own for P6 early in the race. The drivers did have a contact which led to damaging di Grassi's right-rear suspension and had to pit for repairs. Buemi had the lead then between the two drivers but face a technical issue on his Renault e.Dams and eventually finished at P12. Di Grassi, on the other hand, finished 18th.
(Jean-Eric Vergne secured the second place after starting at pole)
Venturi's Maro Engel finished fourth after a tough fight but was penalised for exceeding power limit and dropped to 14th. This allowed Nelson Piquet Jr of Jaguar to be promoted to P4, while Daniel Abt finished fifth ahead of Antonio Felix Da Costa of Andretti. Mahindra's Rosenqvist dropped to P7 ahead of Ventura's rookie driver Edoardo Mortars and race winner Bird's teammate Alex Lynn. Taking P10 was Nico Prost of Renault.
The Hong Kong ePrix also saw this season's first red flag as Andre Lotterer ended into a wall mid race which stopped the proceedings for 30 minutes. It was also the first red flag after 35 races in the sport. Race 2 of the Hong Kong ePrix is scheduled for tomorrow and should be equally eventful.
