Monday 15 December 2014

Buemi wins as Vergne impresses in Uruguay

Sebastien Buemi became Formula E's third winner in as many races after triumphing in Punta del Este, Uruguay.

The 2014 WEC champion held off Nelson Piquet Jr. who took second with Lucas Di Grassi taking his third consecutive podium finish in third.

Driving for Andretti Autosport, F1 refugee Jean Eric Vergne started what was his first Formula E race from pole position but lost the lead almost immediately as China Racing's Piquet Jr. jumped him after the start. Buemi moved ahead of Renault e.Dams team mate Nico Post and settled into third place.

Piquet didn't hold the lead for long, with Vergne snatching back first place, although his high power use forced him to make an early car change pitstop.

Consecutive safety cars to clear up the stricken cars of Stephane Sarrazin, Sam Bird and Antonio Felix Da Costa, combined with the car change pitstops saw the order rearranged, with Heidfeld emerging in the lead ahead of Buemi and Vergne.

The Venturi driver's lead did not last however, with a pitstop time infringement meaning he was slapped with a drive through penalty - handing the lead to Buemi.

Piquet was not far behind in third, facing pressure from Prost who was then also hit with a penalty for going over the power limit.

After starting way down in 19th, Vergne's Andretti team mate Mathew Brabham had climbed unto sixth before crashing out, bringing out another safety car.

On the final restart, Vergne continued to push Buemi, who looked to be cracking under the pressure before Vergne's remarkable debut came to an end when technical issues brought his car to a stop.

because of Vergne's misfortune Piquet Jr. was able to move up to second and came close to winning. Di Grassi took third ahead of the ex-F1 trio of Jarno Trulli, Jaime Alguersuari and Bruno Senna.

Nico Post came home seventh with Jerome D'Ambrosio, Oriol Servia and Nick Heidfeld rounding out the top ten.



Image: fiaformulae.com

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