Motorsports

Published on March 14th, 2016 | by Daniel Sherman Fernandez

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Lucas di Grassi Triumphs at Inaugural Mexico City Formula E Race

Lucas di Grassi used fan power to take an emotional win in front of a large and passionate crowd that was treated to a fabulous inaugural Mexico City ePrix.

Mexico City e-Prix, Mexico, Central America. Saturday 12 March 2016 Photo: Andrew Ferraro/LAT/FE ref: Digital Image _FER5966

The unique layout of the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez – part traditional race track, part street circuit – made overtaking tricky, but not impossible. But with an additional 100kJ of energy that di Grassi received through FanBoost, he was able to slipstream Jerome D’Ambrosio and take the lead into the tight first corner.

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For three laps di Grassi threw energy consumption to the wind and concentrated on building up a lead instead, which he did to perfection at almost a second per lap. With D’Ambrosio having his mirrors full of Renault e.dams’ Sebastien Buemi, di Grassi was able to establish a comfortable advantage that he converted to not only his second win of the season, but the lead in the drivers’ championship.

2015/2016 FIA Formula E Championship. Mexico City ePrix, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Mexico City, Mexico. Saturday 12 March 2016. Jerome D'Ambrosio (FRA) Dragon Racing - Venturi VM200-FE-01, Sebastien Buemi (SUI), Renault e.Dams Z.E.15, Nicolas Prost (FRA), Renault e.Dams Z.E.15, Daniel Abt (GER), ABT Audi Sport FE01. Photo: Zak Mauger/LAT/Formula E ref: Digital Image _L0U8463

The battle for second was fierce. Erstwhile points leader Buemi was recovering from a mistake in qualifying, which left him fifth on the grid rather than the pole position his pace in practice had suggested. He passed di Grassi’s Abt Schaeffler team-mate Daniel Abt early on, and made up a further place in the pit stops when he leap-frogged his Renault e.dams team-mate Nico Prost.

Mexico City e-Prix, Mexico, Central America. Saturday 12 March 2016 Photo: Andrew Ferraro/LAT/FE ref: Digital Image _FER4717

As Buemi backed off to allow D’Ambrosio to re-pass, it allowed Prost, Abt and the second Dragon of Loic Duval to get into the fight. Eventually, the previous order was restored, but by now di Grassi was almost 10 seconds up the road. The fight for second went all the way to the flag and a photo-finish, with D’Ambrosio crossing the line just ahead!

What the weekend also demonstrated is that Formula E can produce unpredictable, exciting action that gets the crowd on its feet.

Goodyear f1 650x85(DSF)

2016 Mexico City ePrix (Rd 5) – Race results

  1. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, (25)
  2. Jerome D’Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +5.416s (23)
  3. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +5.522s (15)
  4. Loic Duval, Dragon Racing, +16.774s (12)
  5. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +30.953s (10)
  6. Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E, +33.893s (8)
  7. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +34.344s (6)
  8. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, +35.467s (4)
  9. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +41.789s (2)
  10. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +42.707s (1)
  11. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +43.019s
  12. Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR, +44.014s
  13. Mike Conway, Venturi, +44.206s
  14. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, +47.767s
  15. Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Formula E, +49.387s
  16. Salvador Duran, Team Aguri, +1:08.498s
  17. Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +1 lap
  18. Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri, DNF

Mexico City e-Prix, Mexico, Central America. Sunday 13 March 2016 Photo: Andrew Ferraro/LAT/FE ref: Digital Image _FER6624


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