NEW YORK CITY – Sebastien Buemi returned to winning ways in New York for Nissan e.dams and boosted his championship chances with a first Formula E win in more than two years.
Without a win since Berlin in season three, Buemi ended the barren spell to bag the maiden victory for the Nissan e.dams outfit in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship.
Buemi led from the Julius Baer pole position, but it was far from comfortable to the checkered flag with Alex Lynn and Mitch Evans keeping him company.
With Lynn limping to a stop at the side of the track due to a technical problem, it opened the door for Evans to pile on the pressure.
However, Buemi battled to the end and escaped any previous misfortune that prevented him from winning earlier in the season – crashing out of the lead in Santiago and suffering a puncture in Paris.
“It’s been difficult this year, because in many ways I feel like I was leading the races in Santiago and Paris, yet every time something seemed to happen,” said Buemi. “To finally be able to win is great and I’d like to dedicate the win to Jean-Paul [Driot], our team principal, who couldn’t be here today. Without him the team wouldn’t be the same. I’m really happy and looking better in the championship, and tomorrow everything is still open, so we’ll see what we can achieve. But it’s been a good day.”
Reigning champion and favorite for the title coming into the race, Jean-Eric Vergne still holds a sizeable lead in the standings and sits 22 points clear of nearest rival Lucas di Grassi.
Starting down the order after struggling with a slippery surface in the first qualifying group, Vergne was caught out in a mid-field melee causing him to pit early with a punctured tyre. Sam Bird sent Jose Maria Lopez into a spin at turn seven and left drivers behind taking avoiding action.
Vergne slowed to steer clear of stationary cars but was subsequently hit from behind by team-mate Andre Lotterer. Both DS TECHEETAH drivers were forced to pit and dropped to the back of the pack.
Despite the puncture, Vergne’s chances to wrap-up the title weren’t totally deflated, with a safety car mid-way through the race to recovery Lynn’s stricken car helping to close the gap to the points-paying positions.
Vergne vaulted up the leaderboard and looked set to score points, but collided with Felipe Massa on the final lap of the race. Vergne went wide into turn one going wheel-to-wheel with Massa and ran out of road on the apex of the right-hander at turn two – hitting the wall hard and ending up facing the wrong way.
Without any points to Vergne’s name so far in New York and one round remaining, the championship continues to the final race with four drivers still in mathematical contention.