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Daniel Abt takes maiden Formula E win at Hong Kong

2017/2018 FIA Formula E Championship. Round 1 - Hong Kong, China. Saturday 02 December 2017. Daniel Abt (GER), Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, Audi e-tron FE04. Photo: Alastair Staley/LAT/Formula E ref: Digital Image _ALS5020

German Daniel Abt has taken his first ever victory in FIA Formula E during the second round of the series at Hong Kong. Audi driver benefited from a mistake by Mortara who was leading the race, but he finally finished third. Pole sitter, Felix Rosenqvist finished second.

The race start was a nightmare for pole sitter, Felix Rosenqvist (Mahindra Racing) who spun off at the start of the race and drop to 11th place. A frustrating situation if we consider that the start was done after a safety car lap due to a lights failure.

It wasn’t a good start for Rosenqvist’s teammate, Nick Heidfeld who saw how his car got stopped but he managed to re-start. Meanwhile, rookie Edoardo Mortara (Venturi Racing) took the lead of the race ahead of Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) and Mitch Evans (Jaguar Racing).

Before the car-change, Rosenqvist managed to comeback from 11th to 7th, while 2015-2016 champion, Sébastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) went from last to 15th. The Swiss driver was one of the first to join the pit-lane on lap 23.

The leaders join the pits a lap later, this was beneficial for Rosenqvist who managed to overtake Evans to take third position. In the following lap, things went wrong for champion Lucas Di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler) who saw how his car stopped on track.

After the first pit stop, Mortara was in the lead with 3 seconds-of-gap with Abt. Then it was Rosenqvist cutting the gap with the leaders, as he was followed by Evans, Alex Lynn (DS Virgin Racing), Jean-Eric Vergne (Techeetah) and yesterday race winner, Sam Bird (DS Virgin Racing) in seventh place.

Then it was a peacefully race until the race leader, Edoardo Mortara spun off at turn 2 with two laps remaining. The Swiss driver lost the lead and drop to third position.

Thus, let Daniel Abt to win his first-ever race in the series ahead of Rosenqvist and Mortara. But behind them drama was coming up with Lynn losing power and dropping to tenth place, as André Lotterer (Techetaah) crashed.

The German is now taking the lead of the championship 36 points, 3 points ahead of Sam Bird and with 5 more than Vergne.

Results:

Pos Driver Nation Team Gap
1 Daniel Abt DEU Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 45 LAPS
2 Felix Rosenqvist SWE Mahindra Racing 5,276
3 Edoardo Mortara SWI Venturi Formula E Team 12,307
4 Mitch Evans NZL Panasonic Jaguar Racing 15,895
5 Jean-Eric Vergne FRA Techeetah 17,869
6 Sam Bird GBR DS Virgin Racing 18,155
7 Oliver Turvey GBR NIO Formula E Team 19,475
8 Maro Engel DEU Venturi Formula E Team 20,952
9 Nicolas Prost FRA Renault e.dams 24,181
10 Alex Lynn GBR DS Virgin Racing 24,301
11 Sébastien Buemi SWI Renault e.dams 27,415
12 André Lotterer DEU Techeetah 28,635
13 António Félix da Costa POR Andretti Formula E Team 33,18
14 Nelson Piquet BRA Panasonic Jaguar Racing 33,867
15 Lucas Di Grassi BRA Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 44,413
16 Jérôme d’Ambrosio BEL Dragon Racing 60,465
17 Neel Jani SWI Dragon Racing 1 Lap
18 Nick Heidfeld DEU Mahindra Racing 1 Lap
19 Kamui Kobayashi JAP Andretti Formula E Team 1 Lap
20 Luca Filippi ITA NIO Formula E Team Not Classified