Di Grassi Claims First Win of Season on Streets of Zurich
Reigning champion Lucas di Grassi picks up first win of the season as Sam Bird reduces gap to Jean-Eric Vergne in title fight
ZURICH, SWITZERLAND (June 10, 2018) – Reigning champion Lucas di Grassi climbed from fifth on the grid to secure his first win of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship and mark a momentous victory on the return of circuit racing to Switzerland in over six decades.
The Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver stood on the top of the podium at the Julius Baer Zurich E-Prix and became the first winner of a single-seater race in Switzerland since Juan Manuel Fangio in Bremgarten in 1954.
Di Grassi made his move during the first stint of the race after narrowly missing out on super pole in qualifying. The Brazilian picked off the leading pack one-by-one over the course of the opening period of the race – crucially taking the lead from Mitch Evans approaching the mid-race car swaps and held station to the chequered flag.
DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird kept his championship hopes alive with second place and a sixth podium finish of the season. Bird started the race as the only realistic contender to table-topper Jean-Eric Vergne and needed desperately to reduce the 40-point gap.
With Vergne struggling in qualifying, as well as serving a drive-through for speeding under Full Course Yellow, Bird seized the opportunity and now sits 23 points adrift heading into the season finale doubleheader in New York.
The TECHEETAH driver started on the back foot and couldn’t find the speed in qualifying, lining-up in 17th – Vergne’s lowest starting position since Punta del Este in 2015. Despite the troubles, he made progress prior to changing cars and jumped seven places in the opening nine laps.
Vergne drew alongside Felix Rosenqvist on the main straight and put a move on the Mahindra driver into the tight Turn 1. The Swede ran out of road and went into the barrier on the outside of the first corner, but managed to return to the garage and left debris across the track.
As Vergne was tussling with Jerome D’Ambrosio – and lapping Rosenqvist – the Frenchman drove over the rear wing of the Mahindra, which was followed by a Full Course Yellow to clean the section between Turns 2 and 3.
The caution period led to the majority of the field coming into the pits – to reduce the impact of the time spent swapping cars – but a slow pit-stop dropped Vergne down the order forcing him to mount yet another fightback. However, his move through the pack was short-lived after being handed the aforementioned penalty.
Di Grassi and Bird were joined on the podium by Jerome D’Ambrosio – signalling the first time the Belgian has stood on the podium since 2016 in Battersea Park. D’Ambrosio benefitted from a host of drivers also being penalised, but showed the renewed pace of the DRAGON outfit.
Vergne wasn’t the only driver to fall foul of speeding under Full Course Yellow – with Evans, Andre Lotterer, Jose Maria Lopez and Sebastien Buemi also being hit with drive-through penalties.
Lotterer, who started on the front row, crossed the line in fourth and also claimed the extra point for Visa fastest lap. Former champion and local favourite Buemi ended-up in fifth – passing thousands of adoring fans lining the streets in Zurich on his cool down lap.
Mahindra Racing’s Nick Heidfeld earned his best finish of the season since a podium place in Hong Kong with sixth. Evans, who secured the first-ever Julius Baer pole position for Panasonic Jaguar Racing, could only manage seventh after also losing time passing through the pitlane.
Antonio Felix da Costa progressed from 15th to eighth to finish ahead of Oliver Turvey in ninth, with Vergne picking up the final point in 10th – how crucial could that point be at the end of the season?
As the season draws to a close, Formula E heads across the Atlantic to the Big Apple for the second time. The fully-electric Formula E cars will once again race in Brooklyn against the backdrop of Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty for the final two rounds of the 2017/18 ABB FIA Formula E Championship – the Qatar Airways New York City E-Prix.
QUOTES
Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, said: “The weekend was amazing and the event here was fantastic. You could hear the huge number of people cheering all over the track. I tried to save a bit more energy in the first half of the first stint, and then managed to overtake the next three cars – I was a little bit lucky to overtake Mitch just before the Full Course Yellow. We did the car swap and came back out in the lead and then they all got a drive-through. Then it was pretty much about managing the gap to Sam. We’ve been very unlucky in the first half of this season and now the luck has turned – five consecutive podiums, which I think is a record. To win in Zurich is the cherry on the cake.”
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, said: “I was disappointed after qualifying, as I felt we had a missed opportunity to get three extra points for pole – the first two-thirds of the lap was some of the best I’ve driven and I threw it away in the chicane. We settled into a rhythm in the race and it’s become apparent that I have to lift more than the people around me. That’s just the way it is – but we’ve got ourselves in this fantastic position in the title fight, and scored second place today – with a little bit of luck I have to say. We can fight in New York and we know what happened there last year… I need to beat him in the first race and put the pressure on. If I can do that, then we’ll see!”
Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, said: “We had a good qualifying in Paris, in Berlin and again today – that’s gone a long way to allowing me to have a result like today, which was very important for the team. Formula E is about consistency and putting everything together. There is a tremendous amount of work for the driver in the car, we have to take into account many things – you just have to be on top of everything and that’s part of being a good driver in this series.”
FAST FACTS
– Mission not impossible; the gap at the top of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship currently stands at 23 points, the exact same amount Lucas di Grassi managed to overturn in Montreal last season.
– Polecat; Mitch Evans secured the first-ever Julius Baer pole position in Formula E for Panasonic Jaguar Racing, clocking a time of 1:12.811s – over a tenth clear of Andre Lotterer.
– Low point; Jean-Eric Vergne’s qualifying performance in Zurich ties his lowest-ever starting position in Formula E, previously lining-up 17th in Punta del Este in 2015.
BEST OF SOCIAL
– To watch the start lights go out for the first time in Switzerland in over six decades – click here
– To see the main title protagonists going toe-to-toe outside the cockpit – click here
– To follow the Formula E cars through the streets of Zurich from the skies – click here
For more analysis and to read the full race report, visit – www.FIAFormulaE.com
2018 Julius Baer Zurich E-Prix (Rd 10)
1 – Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, 51:19.811s (25)
2 – Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +7.542s (18)
3 – Jerome D’Ambrosio, DRAGON, +16.822s (15)
4 – Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, +20.295s (13)
5 – Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +26.692s (10)
6 – Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +28.059s (8)
7 – Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +30.631s (9)
8 – Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +31.301s (4)
9 – Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, +32.180s (2)
10 – Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, +32.833s (1)
11 – Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +34.604s
12 – Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON, +35.206s
13 – Daniel Abt, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, +46.222s
14 – Stephane Sarrazin, Andretti Formula E, +1:09.505s
15 – Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, +1 Lap
16 – Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +1 Lap
DNF – Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, 31 Laps
DNF – Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, 20 Laps
DNF – Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, 20 Laps
DNF – Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, 6 Laps
Driver standings
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 163
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 140
Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 101
Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams – 92
Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing – 86
Team standings
TECHEETAH – 219
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler – 186
DS Virgin Racing – 157
Mahindra Racing – 116
Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 105
Renault e.dams – 99
Venturi Formula E Team – 56
NIO Formula E Team – 47
DRAGON – 41
Andretti Formula E – 24
About the ABB FIA Formula E Championship:
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship is the electric street racing series and the world’s first fully-electric international single-seater category in motorsport. Formula E brings electrifying wheel-to-wheel action to some of the world’s leading cities, racing against the backdrop of iconic skylines such as New York, Hong Kong, Paris and Rome.
The inaugural season of Formula E sparked into life in September 2014 around the grounds of the Olympic Park in Beijing. The fourth edition of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship will see 10 teams and 20 drivers compete in 10 cities spanning five continents in the fight to be crowned champion. Hong Kong hosted the season-opener over the course of two days on December 2 & 3, with the championship coming to a close in New York in July.
Formula E is more than just a race to be the best – it’s a competitive platform to test and develop road relevant technologies, helping refine the design and functionality of electric vehicle components and speeding-up the transition and uptake of clean transportation on a global scale.
For this season, more manufacturers have joined the electric revolution with reigning champion Lucas di Grassi looking to defend his title for the Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler team. More big-name manufacturers have also committed to race in Formula E – including BMW and Nissan in tandem with the new-look car and battery in season five, along with Mercedes-Benz and Porsche who also plan to join the following year.
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About ABB:
ABB (ABBN: SIX Swiss Ex) is a pioneering technology leader in electrification products, robotics and motion, industrial automation and power grids, serving customers in utilities, industry and transport & infrastructure globally. Continuing a history of innovation spanning more than 130 years, ABB today is writing the future of industrial digitalisation with two clear value propositions – bringing electricity from any power plant to any plug and automating industries from natural resources to finished products. As title partner of Formula E, the fully-electric international FIA motorsport class, ABB is pushing the boundaries of e-mobility to contribute to a sustainable future. ABB operates in more than 100 countries with about 135,000 employees. www.abb.com
Sources: Formula E PR