Posted on 7th February 2016
DS Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird has won his first Formula ePrix win of the 2016 season with a controlled drive from start to finish at the Buenos Aires ePrix ahead of Sebastien Buemi in second place and Lucas Di Grassi in third place.
With Bird running in the top four during the practice session, he was able to manage to get a fast lap together to claim his first ever Pole Position and managed to take his first win of the 2016 season as a result and DS Virgin Racing's first win in Formula E too.
The start of the race saw Sam Bird get off the line after a good solid start after Nico Prost tried going into the first corner to pass him and lead the ePrix into the first corner ahead of Prost and Antonio Felix da Costa and started to generate a lead.
But during the first lap, we saw Simona de Silvestro making a few places up the grid as Jerome D'Ambrosio makes contact with his Dragon Racing car and also at the end of the first lap we saw championship leader Sebastien Buemi being as high as thirteenth place after starting from the back of the grid. But Formula E rookie Mike Conway lost a couple of places at the start and is in seventh place by the end of the opening lap and Antonio Felix da Costa having a good start to maintain his third position heading into the second lap of the race.
The first opening laps saw Buemi carving his way through the grid and making up places on the grid, with Buemi being in the top ten by Lap 5 of the ePrix. We saw drivers swapping and changing places all the time, with mainly the current Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr slipping his way back massively to the back of the grid as Buemi passes Daniel Abt at Turn 4 with a great move.
The first half of the ePrix saw loads of action on the track and many drivers challenging and swapping places down the grid. Lap 7 saw Bird still leading the ePrix by 0.6 seconds ahead of Prost and Da Costa. By Lap 8, Luca di Grassi is able to pass Stephane Sarrazin for fourth place and has moved up three positions from starting the race in seventh place.
By Lap 12, the battle between Da Costa and Di Grassi starting to shape up; with Di Grassi starting to catch the Portuguese driver. The next lap saw Da Costa able to pass Prost at Turn 1 for second place of the ePrix with a fantastic move that surprised many who was watching the race and maybe caught Prost napping there! Bird still leads the Buenos Aires ePrix ahead of Da Costa who is in second place as Prost appears to be caught by Di Grassi for third place.
Further down the grid, Conway tries to pass Robert Frijns for position but into Turn 4, Buemi once again shows he is on a mission and passes Conway for position on Lap 16 and then is able to pass Conway for sixth place. On Lap 18, Da Costa parks up on the side of the track with suspected car problems; which then brought out the yellow flag on the track and it is very disappointing for the young Portuguese driver who was running strongly in the ePrix.
With many of the Formula E drivers pitting for their second car after Da Costa brought out the yellow flag after stopping on the track at the end of Lap 18, the second half of the Buenos Aires ePrix is underway with Piquet Jr leading ahead of Bird (but Piquet Jr hadn't pitted yet).
Lap 20 saw Bird retake the lead of the Buenos Aires ePrix ahead of Di Grassi as Buemi tries to get past Sarrazin for third place as the Safety Car is being deployed in order to remove Da Costa's Aguri car from the track safely. But we heard Buemi air his frustrations on the team radio explaining that Sarrazin is holding the pack behind him and is going rather slowly.
Lap 23 sees the Safety Car going into the pitlane and we are racing again. Bird catches the field napping and gets a great start. Heading into Turn 1, Buemi passes Sarrazin for third place and is now pushing to get ahead of his rival and championship rival Di Grassi who is trying to gain on the race leader in the meantime.
Further down the grid, Conway has a spin coming out of Turn 4 which then puts him back down the grid to fifteenth place. Meanwhile, Buemi is catching Di Grassi and Bird and is the fastest driver on the grid; with the three of them being just over a second apart.
Lap 28 sees Buemi passing Di Grassi into Turn 4 for second place in the race after Di Grassi left him a gap which Buemi has taken full advantage of. In the final stages of the ePrix, the battle between Bird and Buemi was the focus point. With Buemi gaining 0.4 seconds on Bird; all eyes were on the Swiss driver to see if he could grasp victory from the British driver's hands, with the gap being 0.6 seconds on Lap 32 of the ePrix.
With Sebastien Buemi pushing him all the way, Sam Bird takes his first win for the DS Virgin Racing team in Formula E and his first win of the season ahead of Sebastian Buemi who came from eighteenth place and extending his lead in the championship to three points who finished in second place behind Bird and ahead of Lucas Di Grassi who finished in third place behind Bird.
Stephane Sarrazin finished the race in a solid fourth place ahead of Nico Prost in fifth place, Loic Duval in sixth place, Nick Heidfeld in seventh place, Robin Frijns in eighth place, Oliver Turvey in ninth place and Bruno Senna tops the top ten finishers of the race.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished the ePrix in eleventh place ahead of Nelson Piquet Jr in twelfth place, Daniel Abt in thirteenth place, Simona de Silvestro in fourteenth place, Mike Conway in fifteenth place and Jerome D'Ambrosio in sixteenth place. Antonio Felix Da Costa and Salvador Duran did not finish the race.
Here is the classification of the 2016 Buenos Aires ePrix as follows:–
1. Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, 35 laps
2. Sebastien Buemi, Renault E.Dams, +0.716s
3. Lucas Di Grassi, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, +7.525s
4. Stephane Sarrazin, Venturi, +9.415s
5. Nico Prost, Renault E.Dams, +11.316s
6. Loic Duval, Dragon Racing, +15.660s
7. Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +16.444s
8. Robin Frijns, Andretti, +18.685s
9. Oliver Turvey,, Nextev TCR, +22.007s
10. Bruno Senna, Mahindra Racing, +22.456s
11. Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Virgin Racing, +24.482s
12. Nelson Piquet Jr, Nextev TCR, +24.641s
13. Daniel Abt, Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport, +27.998s
14. Simona de Silvestro, Andretti, +36.171s
15. Mike Conway, Venturi, +39.581s
16. Jerome D'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing, 1 lap
17. Antonio Felix Da Costa, Team Aguri, Not Classified
18. Salvador Duran, Team Aguri, Not Classified
Sebastien Buemi still leads the Formula E Drivers Championship with 80 points ahead of Lucas Di Grassi in second with 76 points, Sam Bird in third with 52 points, Loic Duval in fourth with 32 points, Jerome D'Ambrosio in fifth with 30 points, Stephane Sarrazin in sixth with 28 points, Nick Heidfeld in seventh with 23 points, Robin Frijns in eighth with 21 points, Nico Prost in ninth with 21 points and Antonio Felix Da Costa in tenth with 16 points.
Sarah Jones- @jonesy_laaa
