English native Alexander Sims took Round 2 for the Ad Diriyah ePrix race after a wild race. Sims started first and led all 30 laps to take home his first win of the season.
Though, there were several controversies following the event.
When the ePrix got underway, it was all Sims out front in the BMW i Andretti Motorsport entry. With Sims pulling away, Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi followed behind him in second and third, respectively. DS Techeetah Antonio Felix da Costa also was having a strong while Jerome d’ Ambrosio had a difficult outing and had to retire from the race. Ambrosio was the first retiree of the event by not making any laps.
Some intense action took place behind the leaders. Da Costa was pressuring Buemi for a potential spot in the top three. However, he pushed too hard and sent Buemi around into oncoming traffic. Both drivers got their vehicles running again but the incident was investigated under the FIA. Later, the FIA gave da Costa a 10-second drive-through penalty.
Yesterday’s race winner, Sam Bird had his own troubles as well. There were 30 minutes remaining on the clock before Bird was bumped by Mitch Evans and the Panasonic Jaguar Racing entry in Turn 4 at Lap 14. The incident was severe enough that Bird could not continue due to the crash damage. The Englishman became the second retiree of the event.
Another yellow flew on Lap 19 of the ePrix. This time it was for the No. 4 of Robin Frijns, who had an accident in Turn 6. Furthermore, Sims still had control of the race despite all the mishaps behind him. Di Grassi used an Attack Mode to pass Stoffel Vandoorne by having an additional 35kW energy available.
Sims continued to have the lead with just five minutes remaining in the ePrix. His teammate, Max Gunther was behind him and fought hard to hold di Grassi off hoping for an Andretti 1-2 sweep. And so it worked (for the most part) with Sims taking the checkered flag, but Gunther was issued a penalty due to passing Lucas di Grassi when the Safety Car was deployed. Therefore, Gunther saw a 24 second time penalty added to his race result. Instead, the new Mercedes-Benz entry took the podium in third.
Official Results
- Alexander Sims, led all 30 laps, 28 points
- Lucas di Grassi, 18 points
- Stoffel Vandoorne, 15 points
- Edoardo Mortara, 12 points
- Oliver Rowland, 10 points
- Daniel Abt, eight points
- James Calado, six points
- Jean-Eric Vergne, four points
- Brendon Hartley, two points
- Antonio Felix da Costa, three points, Fastest Lap
- Max Gunther
- Sebastien Buemi
- Neel Jani
- Andre Lotterer
- Pascal Wehlein
- Nyck de Vries
- Felipe Massa
- Mitch Evans
- Qing Hua
Retired
Oliver Turvey- DSQ
Nico Muller
Robin Frijns
Sam Bird
Jerome D’ Ambrosio
Up Next: Formula E’s next event will be in the new decade at Santiago for the third race of the season at the Parque O’ Higgins Circuit on Saturday, January 18.
