Formula e – Lucas di Grassi avoids overheating in Putrajaya

The second round of the 2015-2016 season Formula e offered a twist scenario that finally smiled on the Brazilian Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT), who returned to the top step of the podium in the discipline after more than a year without success and his victory during the inaugural event in Beijing in 2014.

Di Grassi notably took advantage of the problems which affected Both Renault e.dams of Sébastien Buemi, author of the pole, and Nicolas Cheers who took turns leading the event. The Swiss, leader during the first part of the ePrix, encountered a software problem and was forced to enter the pits prematurely.

The team of Alain Prost and Jean-Paul Driot also recalled Nicolas Prost as a precaution, following a temperature alert on the battery, which ruined the efforts of the son of the quadruple world champion, Lucas di Grassi by taking the opportunity to pass Prost thanks to the change of car. The Frenchman will then see António Félix da Costa (Team Aguri), Loïc duval (Dragon Racing), Jérôme D'Ambrosio (Dragon Racing), Robin Frijns (Amlin Andretti), then Sam Bird (DS Virgin Racing) overtake him.

The Dragon Racing drivers seemed well on their way to the podium but Duval and D'Ambrosio (suspension problem) will let Sam Bird came back from the second half of the grid to finish second ahead of Robin Frijns, who concluded with a crab car after contact with the wall when overtaking Duval who was then in difficulty.

Stéphane Sarrazin (Venturi) finished 4th after experiencing a problem on the starting grid, while the driver Toyota en WEC was to start from the first row alongside Buemi. Bruno Senna (Mahindra Racing), António Félix da Costa, Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT), Nelson Piquet Jr (NEXTEV China Racing), Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) sanctioned with a drive-through for a pit stop time too short, and Nicolas Prost climbed into the top 10.

The complicated weekend of Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Virgin Racing) ended on the first lap, sandwiched at the first corner between Jacques Villeneuve (Venturi) and Nick Heidfeld, leaving the Frenchman with a damaged car at the right front wheel. With his success, Lucas di Grassi takes control of the championship, before the next round of Formula e, scheduled for December 19 in Punta del Este in Uruguay.

>>>>> Putrajaya ePrix video summary <<<<

Discover the full report of the Putrajaya Formula e event, in issue 2037 of AUTOhebdo, available from Monday evening in digital version, and from this Wednesday on newsstands.