Jean-Eric Vergne has won a frenetic Hyderabad E-Prix with Nick Cassidy and Antonio Felix Da Costa completing the podium.
After a difficult start to the season for the DS Penske team, Jean-Eric Vergne set about improving their trajectory with a hard-fought win, despite finishing the race with 3 per cent less energy than Nick Cassidy in second place.
And despite finishing the race third on the track, a post-race penalty for Sebastian Buemi promoted Da Costa to the podium on his 100th race in the championship.
With Jaguar power appearing strong all weekend, their customer team Envision we’re able to rise to the top.
The field managed to make it through the first few laps cleanly, despite there being lots of dirt and dust off of the main racing line.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans went aggressive off the line as he looked to close off the threat of Jean-Eric Vergne on the inside. After losing the lead of the race in Diriyah, Evans was determined to ensure he converted his pole to a win.
The opening stages of the race were fairly quiet until Edoardo Mortara hit off his front wing, spending two laps driving with it underneath him. When it finally dislodged, a yellow flag was brought out to retrieve it.
The drama began with catastrophe for Jaguar on lap 13 when Sam Bird collided with Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans at the turn three hairpin.
Both had to retire due to damage from the incident with Maximillian Gunther and Sacha Fenestraz getting caught up in the chaos.
Track limits were a feature of the E-Prix once again with several drivers receiving penalties for exceeding the boundaries of the track.
Jake Hughes brought out the safety car on lap 23 after losing the rear of the car due to an item being trapped in his steering wheel.
Nick Cassidy managed to climb up to second place before the safety car. The Kiwi ended the safety car period with 3 per cent energy on Vergne out front.
In classic Formula E style, the safety car brought out more drama across the bunched-up field with Rene Rast going into the back of Jake Dennis at the hairpin of turn three, ruining both of their races.
Similar to the last race in Diriyah, certain drivers got to take advantage of drivers running out of energy towards the line.
However, Vergne hung on at the very end, with Cassidy following him closely across the line.
Pascal Wehrlein extends his lead in the championship with a fourth-place finish, while primary rival Dennis was unable to score points. A third and fourth for Porsche also sees them overtake customer team Andretti in the Teams’ championship.
The chaos of the race allowed three drivers to score their first points of the season. NIO 333’s Sergio Sette Camara came home fifth, Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland claimed sixth and Norman Nato brought his Nissan home in seventh.
Formula E action returns in two weeks at another new circuit for the Cape Town E-Prix.
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