Posted on 3rd April 2016
ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver Lucas di Grassi won the Long Beach ePrix yesterday with a stunning drive after his disqualification at the Mexico ePrix ahead of Venturi driver Stephane Sarrazin and Di Grassi's team mate Daniel Abt..
From pole position, it was DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird who led in the early stages of the race, but Lucas di Grassi kept him in his sights. Lap 3 saw Loic Duval and Da Costa colliding with each other on the pit straight after Da Costa on the final corner tried to get past him for track position.
On the same lap, we saw Robert Frijns passing Nick Heidfeld in a ballsy move which saw Heidfeld going wide and losing two places behind Sebastian Buemi and Nico Prost.
In the first part of the ePrix, Buemi was really struggling to make up for lost ground and it was only on Lap 8 that he was finally able to get past Daniel Abt with a great move and started to hunt down the drivers in front of him. But everyone's eyes was on the battle between Bird and Di Grassi, with Di Grassi edging ever closer to Bird and biding his time to make a move for the lead of the ePrix.
Further down the grid, the battle for fourth between Frijns and Buemi took a turn for the worst. Buemi while trying to pass Frijns made contact and a piece of his Renault e.dams car was left on the track. But on Lap 12, di Grassi managed to get a better run down the back straight and he pulled a great move on bird into Turn 5 to take the lead of the ePrix.
Lap 13 saw Di Grassi, Heidfeld and D'Ambrosio being announced as the three drivers who have won the FanBoost for the Long Beach ePrix which they can use in the second half of the ePrix when they feel it is necessary for them to do so. Lap 16 saw Buemi and Frijns pitting in order to fix the damage on their cars which happened five laps earlier.
Antonio Felix Da Costa by Lap 18 was up to tenth place from last place and going into Turn 4 was trying to pass Jean-Eric Vergne for track position but Da Costa thought better of it and backed out of the move. But Simone de Silvestro was quickly closing the gap to Da Costa and even tried to pass him on the circuit but couldn't make a move stick.
Bird managed to keep on di Grassi's tail through the mid-race mandatory car change, but in his second car he was caught out by cold brakes and locked up into Turn 5 on Lap 24; which sent him down the escape road. He managed to avoid any serious damage, but lost a hat full of places and any hope of victory this weekend.
Di Grassi at this point of the ePrix had a comfortable lead over Venturi's Stephane Sarrazin. However, his lead was to be totally wiped out when last year's winner Nelson Piquet Jr crashed over the kerbs at the first chicane and walloped into the wall on Lap 34 of the ePrix.
The Qualcomm Safety Car was required to retrieve his stricken NEXTEV TCR machine, which then handed Sarrazin an unexpected shot at the win as the ePrix was waiting to restart.
In the latter stages of the ePrix, Sebastien Buemi collided with Robins Frijns, which not only damaged both cars so badly, but they were forced into making an early car change. Buemi then received a drive-through penalty for his part in the incident.
But it was Lucas di Grassi who won the Long Beach ePrix with a truly superb drive that shows why he is a championship contender this season and has now regained the lead of the championship he lost after Mexico. Di Grassi remained ahead of Stephane Sarrazin in second place who drove an excellent race to score his first podium of his Formula E career and has kept his record of finishing in every race so far this season.
Sarrazin finished ahead of Daniel Abt in third place who scored ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport's first double podium for the first time in the FIA Formula E Championship. Nick Heidfeld and Bruno Senna finished in fourth and fifth place and this result meant it was the biggest ever points haul for Mahindra in Formula E and it is a great achievement for the team who has worked so hard for this result.
Sam Bird finished the race in sixth place ahead of Mexico ePrix race winner Jerome D'Ambrosio in seventh place who received FanBoost for the first time in his Formula E career (di Grassi and Heidfeld were the other recipients), but it was a low-key race for the Dragon Racing driver, who finished one place ahead of his team-mate Loic Duval in eighth place.
Simona de Silvestro became the first female driver to score points in Formula E with a strong drive to ninth place for Andretti, while Mike Conway opened his account for Venturi by claiming a single point in tenth place.
Nico Prost finished the ePrix in eleventh place after he received a drive through penalty for missing the required time to stay in the pit lane. But Prost finished ahead of Oliver Turvey in twelfth place, Jean-Eric Vergne in thirteenth place and Salvador Duran in fourteenth place who were both one lap down on the leader.
Robin Frijns had a disappointing ePrix and finished in fifteenth place ahead of Sebastian Buemi in sixteenth place and three laps down on the leader. But he did manage to salvage something from the race by setting the Visa Fastest Lap and the two bonus points it brings but the Renault e.dams team it was a race to forget.
They will now be re-doubling their efforts and hoping to get back on the front foot as the series heads to their home race which is the inaugural Visa Paris ePrix ; which takes place on April 23. Antonio Felix Da Costa and Nelson Piquet Jr did not finish the race.
Here's the official classification of the Long Beach ePrix as follows:-
1. Lucas di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport,
2. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +0.787s
3. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, +1.685s
4. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +2.343s
5. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +4.968s
6. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +5.229s
7. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, +6.735s
8. Loic Duval, Dragon Racing, +8.057s
9. Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Formula E, +10.505s
10. Mike Conway, Venturi, +10.900s
11. Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +11.205s ​
12. Oliver Turvey, NEXTEV TCR, +17.417s ​
13. Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +1 lap
14. Salvador Duran, Team Aguri, +1 lap​
15. Robin Frijns, Andretti Formula E, +1 lap
16. Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +3 laps
17. Antonio Felix da Costa, Team Aguri, DNF​
18. Nelson Piquet Jr, NEXTEV TCR, DNF
Lucas Di Grassi still leads the Formula E Drivers Championship with 101 points ahead of Sebastian Buemi in second with 100 points, Sam Bird in third with 71 points, Jerome D'Ambrosio in fourth with 64 points, Stephane Sarrazin in fifth with 48 points, Loic Duval in sixth with 48 points, Nick Heidfeld in seventh with 39 points, Nicolas Prost in eighth with 38 points, Robin Frijns in ninth with 31 points and Daniel Abt in tenth with 31 points.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
