Jean-Eric Vergne held off an aggressive Lucas Di Grassi to win in Punte Del Este. They were joined on the podium by Sam Bird.

The halfway point of the season saw the grid take to the streets of Punte Del Este. It was here that Jean Eric Vergne secured his second win of the 2017/2018 season. This now places him firmly at the top of the championship standings, 30 points ahead of Felix Rosenqvist.

However, it wasn’t an easy victory. After the race he told the team “I need a vodka“. Despite being gifted pole position after Di Grassi’s demotion, he had to fight to keep that position for the entire race.

The reigning champion, Lucas Di Grassi scored his podium of the year after a string of disappointing results and two retirements. However, the Brazilian still remains 10th in the championship after 6 races.

After two podiums already this season, Sam Bird was close to snatch second place from Di Grassi.

“I just really wanted the two ahead of me to fight a little more but I ran out of laps.” He commented “I tried my best to hang onto the back of them, hoping they’d fight it out a little bit more but then I caught my front left wheel near the end and just had to settle for my position.”

Mitch Evans came out ahead of Felix Rosenqvist after a battle in the dying stages of the race, while Alex Lynn came home in 6th. This gave Lynn his best finish ever behind the wheel of a Formula E car.

After just two laps , Nick Heidfeld’s Mahindra came to a halt after suffering from technical difficulties, bringing out an early safety car.

Sebastian Buemi had a similarly disappointing day, going wide at turn 13 and breaking his rear axle. After switching to his second car, he reached an inevitable DNF on lap 29.

The final retirement came from Nelson Piquet Jr., whose Jaguar was forced retire on lap 25 after first lap contact lead to a suspected drive shaft issue.

 

The grid will be back out in action in Rome on the 14th of April and Overtake Motorsport will have all the action covered for you.

Feature Image Credit: “JEV holds off di Grassi in battle for Punta del Este“

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Posted on 17th March, 2018 for Overtake Motorsport

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