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London ePrix: Buemi win sets up three-way title showdown

Sebastien Buemi took his third Formula E victory of the season to ensure a three-way fight for the title in the final round of the inaugural season tomorrow afternoon.

Race 1 Winner Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault

Race 1 Winner Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault

FIA Formula E

Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault
Race 1 Podium: second place Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing winner Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault and third place Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti Autosport
Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault Formula E Team
Race 1 Podium: second place Jérôme d'Ambrosio, Dragon Racing winner Sébastien Buemi, e.dams-Renault and Alain Prost and third place Jean-Eric Vergne, Andretti Autosport
Sakon Yamamoto, Amlin Aguri
Karun Chandhok, Mahindra Racing
Loic Duval, Dragon Racing
Action
Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault
Sam Bird, Virgin Racing
Stéphane Sarrazin, Venturi
Oliver Turvey, China Racing
Simona de Silvestro, Andretti Autosport
Nicolas Prost, e.dams-Renault
Nelson Piquet Jr., China Racing

With fellow title contenders Lucas Di Grassi and Nelson Piquet finishing in fourth and fifth positions respectively, just 13 points covers the trio ahead of the decider tomorrow – with Piquet on 138pts, Buemi on 133pts and Di Grassi on 125pts.

Buemi’s victory and a seventh place for teammate Nicolas Prost ensured that Team eDAMS Renault sealed the very first FIA Formula E Constructors’ title.

The race began with a rolling single-file start in to the first corner, which remained under a yellow flag for the first lap. Buemi immediately built a slight lead while behind the e-DAMS driver all eyes were on title protagonists di Grassi and Piquet, who fought wheel to wheel for third position.

On the third lap Piquet took a run at di Grassi in the run into Turn 14 and the two made brief contact as the Audi Abt driver defended the inside line. Piquet ran wide and lost fourth to Jean-Eric Vergne’s Andretti Spark-Renault, which then began a succession of fastest laps by the F1 refugee as he soon homed in on di Grassi.

Vergne made his move at the T14/15 chicane with an audacious move which saw him lock his brakes and slither through the inside, as di Grassi was forced to take avoiding action. It was easily the move of the race.

With di Grassi’s hand forced by Vergne, the rapid Frenchman went after Jerome d’Ambrosio’s Dragon Racing car for second position.

D’Ambrosio, Vergne and di Grassi all pitted on the same lap, one before leader Buemi and the rest of the majority of the field.

After the car-swap pitstops, the top six remained unchanged but Buemi retained a two-second advantage. This was soon wiped away after Daniel Abt’s accident at the final corner while fighting for position with Oliver Turvey’s NEXTEV TCR and Salvador Duran’s Amlin Aguri.

With the other Aguri car of Sakon Yamamtoto also stranded in the pit entry, the solar-powered safety car was deployed after 17 laps.

At the restart with nine laps to go, Buemi eeked out another small advantage and managed the gap to the chequered flag, taking the win by just under a second.

With d’Ambrosio and Vergne comfortable in second and third places, the main focus of attention again fell on di Grassi and Piquet, with the latter all over the back of his fellow Brazilian rival.

Going in to the last seven laps, Piquet used his fan boost to get a run on di Grassi again but was ultimately unable to get by and eventually fell back after a lurid moment at the modified first turn.

Di Grassi, clear of Piquet, soon latched on to Vergne’s tail, setting fastest lap of 1m28.229 on lap 25. There was nowhere through though for the Audi Abt driver, and he had to settle for a mere three-point indent in to Piquet’s lead, while Vergne celebrated a hard fought third, his second podium since he joined the series at Punta Del Este in December.

Piquet faded in fifth place and was caught by a charging Sam Bird who took sixth place, just 0.3s behind the championship leader.

Nicolas Prost just held off countryman Loic Duval for seventh place, while Oliver Turvey placed ninth but would have been higher had he not had a slow pitstop. Stephane Sarrazin completed the top ten in his Venturi-entered car.

Bruno Senna had looked set for a hard-earned seventh but received a penalty for speeding in the pitlane and eventually finished 17th.

The final round takes place tomorrow afternoon. Track amendments at turn one are set to take place this evening ahead of the title decider.

Pos Driver  Team   Time  Gap
Sebastien Buemi e.dams Renault 47m54.784  
Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon Racing 47m55.723 0.939
Jean-Eric Vergne Andretti Autosport 47m56.451 1.667
Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT 47m57.193 2.409
Nelson Piquet Jr China Racing 48m02.154 7.370
Sam Bird Virgin Racing 48m02.546 7.762
Nicolas Prost e.dams Renault 48m03.337 8.553
Loic Duval Dragon Racing 48m04.291 9.507
Oliver Turvey China Racing 48m04.816 10.032
10  Stephane Sarrazin VENTURI 48m06.861 12.077
11  Simona de Silvestro Andretti Autosport 48m10.730 15.946
12  Karun Chandhok Mahindra Racing 48m30.379 35.595
13  Nick Heidfeld VENTURI 48m35.818 41.034
14  Fabio Leimer Virgin Racing 48m37.481 42.697
15  Jarno Trulli Trulli 48m38.057 43.273
16  Bruno Senna Mahindra Racing 48m43.207 48.423
17  Salvador Duran Amlin Aguri 48m56.771 1m01.987

 

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