Nicolas Prost has won the fifth round of the Formula E Championships in Florida which has seen him take the top spot in drivers’ standings.
AFTER A TWO month break, the Formula E Championship held its fifth round at Miami in Florida becoming the first round of the championship to be conducted without a single safety car period.
Practice was dominated by Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird, although Andretti’s Jean-Éric Vergne claimed pole position. Leading from the start, Vergne eventually lost his lead to Bird. Vergne then pitted to change cars (in Formula E the drivers have to pit to swap cars as the batteries aren’t able to hold enough full-power charge to last a full race). Running low on energy, Bird was eventually swamped by Nelson Piquet (from China Racing) and Nick Heidfeld (Venturi).
However, once all of the pit stops had been made it was Daniel Abt who emerged as race leader. Under pressure from Nicolas Prost, the German was unable to keep the lead or maintain second spot and was overtaken (by Prost and Scott Speed) on the penultimate lap to finish third.
The son of the four-time F1 World Champion became not only the fifth driver to win in as many rounds, but also the new championship leader. The first team to win two ePrix, e.dams-Renault extended its lead in the teams standings.
The next round of the Formula E will be the last of the American events and will also mark the halfway stage of the season. The sixth ePrix of the season will be held in Long Beach, on 4 April.
RACE RESULT
- Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault) 39 laps
- Scott Speed (Andretti) +0.433
- Daniel Abt (Audi Sport Abt) +5.518
- Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) +5.941
- Nelson Piquet (China Racing) +6.426
- Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Aguri) +8.754
- Loïc Duval (Dragon Racing) +9.498
- Sam Bird (Virgin Racing) +19.817
- Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport Abt) +20.631
- Salvador Duran (Amlin Aguri) +24.587
Fastest lap: Nelson Piquet (China Racing) 1:07.969
CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS
DRIVERS
- Nicolas Prost (e.dams-Renault), 67 points
- Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport Abt), 60
- Sam Bird (Virgin Racing), 52
- Nelson Piquet Jr (China Racing), 49
- Sébastien Buemi (e.dams-Renault), 43
- Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Aguri), 37
- Jérôme d’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing), 34
- Jaime Alguersuari (Virgin Racing), 26
- Daniel Abt (Audi Sport Abt) 19
- Franck Montagny (Andretti), 18
TEAMS
- e.dams-Renault, 110 points
- Audi Sport Abt, 79
- Virgin Racing, 78
- Andretti, 62
- Dragon Racing, 56
- China Racing, 49
- Amlin Aguri, 40
- Mahindra Racing, 36
- Trulli, 12
- Venturi, 8
