History Repeats in Long Beach

by James • April 6, 2015 • Event • Comments (0) • 4066

Thirty five years on from when the Brazilian national anthem was played at Long Beach to celebrate a Piquet Sr. victory. On Saturday afternoon it was Piquet Jr. who took his first Formula E win in the same spot where his father scored his maiden Formula 1 victory. Also confirming that history sometimes repeats itself, another fellow countryman found his way to the podium: back in the day it was Emerson Fittipaldi, while today Lucas Di Grassi took third. Only the nationality of the second place driver was different to that of the 30th March thirty five years ago, with France’s Jean-Eric Vergne in the second place that had gone to Italy’s Riccardo Patrese.

The ePrix was watched by over 20,000 spectators who packed the Long Beach grandstands and paddock. Now for the sixth time in as many races, there was a different winner: Piquet’s name can now be added to those of Di Grassi (Beijing,) Bird (Putrajaya,) Buemi (Punta del Este,) Da Costa (Buenos Aires) and Prost (Miami,) which confirms how closely matched the first ever electric championship is.

Piquet Jr. took a richly deserved win, leading practically from start to finish. Having started from the second row, Piquet Jr. got past the Daniel Abt under braking for the first corner and, from then on, kept the lead throughout. He was able to carve out a small but constant gap to his closest rivals.

In the first stint, the race slowed twice in the early stages for cautions. The first of these was when Speed went off into the barriers at turn 2 and the second when Pic and Trulli collided, the former penalized and alas Trulli was forced to retire. Abt was able to keep in Piquet’s slipstream, while Vergne made the most of the first restart to pass Buemi and move into third place.

In the run of pit stops, which came later than usual, because of the yellow flags, Andretti Autosport’s Vergne managed to gain another place and sit behind Piquet Jr. but he never looked likely to pass the Brazilian. Abt kept third spot up until lap 32, when he had to pit to take a penalty for excessive energy usage. As a result of his penalty his teammate Di Grassi moved up into third. The top five was completed by Bruno Senna, who made use of stopping a lap later than most of the frontrunners to climb from the lower reaches of the top 10.

Even though Vergne had a five-second #FanBoost at his disposal, there was no way he could have passed Piquet Jr., who had built up a significant gap in the last laps. Besides that, Piquet Jr also had been voted by fans to have a #FanBoost which he never used.

The win at Long Beach was the first in Formula E for the China Racing team. Piquet Jr. moves up to second in the Drivers’ Championship, on 74 points after his win, just one behind fellow countryman Di Grassi, in the lead on 75 points. Nicolas Prost, who led the championship coming into this round, brought home two points that came with the fastest race lap. In the teams classification, it is still e.dams in the lead on 124 points, while Audi Sport Abt are second on 97 and Virgin Racing third with 82.

The next round of the Formula E series takes place in Monaco, a famous motor sport location. As part of the event the Formula E track will encompass aspects of the famed Formula 1 Grand Prix track.

Long Beach ePrix Results:

Pos Driver/Team

01 Nelson Piquet Jr./China

02 Jean-Eric Vergne/Andretti

03 Lucas di Grassi/Abt

04 Sebastien Buemi/e.dams

05 Bruno Senna/Mahindra

06 Jerome D’Ambrosio/Dragon

07 Antonio Felix da Costa/Aguri

08 Jaime Alguersuari/Virgin

09 Loic Duval/Dragon

10 Stephane Sarrazin/Venturi

11 Nick Heidfeld/Venturi

12 Karun Chandhok/Mahindra

13 Vitantonio Liuzzi/Trulli

14 Nicolas Prost/e.dams

15 Daniel Abt/Abt

16 Charles Pic/China

– Salvador Duran/Aguri

– Sam Bird/Virgin

– Jarno Trulli/Trulli

– Scott Speed/Andretti

Driver Standings (After Round 6)

Lucas di Grassi, 75pts
Nelson Piquet Jr., 74pts
Nicolas Prost, 69pts
Sébastien Buemi, 55pts
Sam Bird, 52pts
Antonio Felix da Costa, 43pts
Jerome D’Ambrosio, 42pts
Jean-Eric Vergne, 32pts
Jaime Alguersuari, 30pts
Bruno Senna, 28pts

Team Standings (After Round 6)

e.dams-Renault Formula E, 124pts
Audi Sport ABT Formula E, 97pts
Virgin Racing Formula E, 82pts
Andretti Formula E, 80pts
China Racing Formula E, 74pts
Dragon Racing Formula E, 66pts
Amlin Aguri Formula E, 46pts
Mahindra Racing Formula E, 46pts
Trulli Formula E, 12pts
Venturi Formula E, 9pts