Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns has become the eighth different driver to win the eighth race of the 2018-19 Formula E championship. Frijns took his maiden Formula E win in the Paris e-Prix at the end of a chaotic day. The race conditions were challenging due to the heavy rain storm making the Paris e-Prix Formula E first-ever wet race, which started under the safety car and triggered a number of incidents. Andre Lotterer of Techeetah finished second while Daniel Abt of Audi Abt took third. Mahindra Racing's Pascal Wehrlein and Jerome d'Ambrosio were penalised for the wrong tyre pressure and started at the back of the grid.
Wehrlein was stripped of his 2019 Paris E-Prix pole position due to the tyre pressure infringement, which saw Nissan e.Dams racer Oliver Rowland promoted to the pole. The race started under full-course yellows with the right-side of the track still damp due to the stormy weather. Rowland was closely followed by teammate Sebastien Beumi in P2 while Frigns as running third charging on Buemi to take P2. However, Roland turned out to be the first casualty of th race and crashed out of the lead at Turn 10 locking up and colliding with the barriers. The incident pushed Buemi into the lead and the driver held on to the same for the initial laps.
undefinedPole-sitter @oliverrowland1 has crashed into the wall! #ParisEPrix #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/RWEwMb5slF
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) April 27, 2019
Frijns, who was promoted to second was now breathing down Beumi's neck and even made contact on Lap 6. He attempted to pass the Nissan on Lap 8 the first time by using the Attack mode as Buemi locked up on Turn 9, but the attempt did not yield a result. Nevertheless, the second attempt a lap later worked for the Virgin driver who passed the Nissan driver on Turn 8, taking the lead for the remainder of the 32 lap race. Buemi didn't stay behind Frijns for long though and had to pit with a puncture, pushing him at the back.
It was no looking back for Frigns now who was comfortable at the top with little competition to worry about. However, the rains pushed the Paris e-Prix into chaos as conditions worsened with every minute. Lotterer managed to keep pace and finished the race in second place 1.373s behind the race leader, while Daniel ABt was promoted to third after a series of accidents ended the race for other drivers.
Abt's Lucas di Grassi finished fourth after fending off tight competition from Maximilian Gunther of Dragon Racing who eventually finished fifth, his best in the season so far. Techeetah's Jean-Eric Vergne finished sixth followed by Antonio Felix da Costa of BMW Andretti and Gary Paffett of HWA AG. Venturi racer Felipe Massa finished ninth, but not before contending for the third place before he spun unaided on the penultimate lap in the middle of the race and fell at the back of the order, only to be pushed down further.
undefined#ParisEPrix update: Due to a tyre pressure technical infringement, the #94 and #64 M5Electro have had their qualifying times deleted and will start from the last row. When the lights go out, we will do our best to fight back pic.twitter.com/IysoBsJm6E
— Mahindra Racing (@MahindraRacing) April 27, 2019
The final point in the race was taken by Wehrlein who finished in 10th place, making his way up from all the way back and had a largely incident free run. Teammate D'Ambrosio too had climbed 13 places in eighth place by Lap 25 but hit the wall and was classified 17th at the end of the race. Finishing in 11th place was title rival Sam Bird of Virgin Racing who collided with Alexander Sims of HWA AG and Alex Lynn of Jaguar Racing in the final stages, but was the only one to recover and complete the race.
undefinedThis race is crazy! @AlexanderSims suffers heartbreak again after a race-ending incident involving a number of cars #ABBFormulaE #ParisEPrix pic.twitter.com/2e323jYoge
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) April 27, 2019
Finishing 12th was pole-sitter Rowland, followed by Jose Maria Lopez of Dragon Racing and Oliver Turvey of NIO Formula E in 13th and 14th place respectively. Buemi finished 15th ahead of Rome e-Prix winner Jaguar's Mitch Evans who finished in 16th place after pitting early on for a front wing change after contact. The DNFs were aplenty in the Paris e-Prix and included Lynn, Sims, Edoardo Mortara of Venturi and Tom Dillmann of NIO Formula E.
Frijns currently leads the drivers standings with 81 points followed by Lotterer with 80 points and Antonio da Costa with 70 points. Mahindra's d'Ambrosio, was was in the contention for the championship title now stands in fifth place with 65 points, while the Indian team has been pushed down to fourth in the team standings with DS Techeetah at the top. With five races left, the drivers and teams have limited but highly possible chances of changing the standings.
