Mortara takes his first Formula E win in Hong Kong

The turbulent and action-packed Hong Kong ePrix saw Eduardo Mortara taking his and Venturi’s frist victory in the series after the actual race winner Sam Bird was given time penalty for a collision with Andre Lotterer.

The race began on a damp track after heavy rainshowers earlier during the day. As the red lights went off, pole sitter Stoffel Vandoorne lost out to Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland who took the lead as the field went into Turn 1. Sam Bird also made a good getaway and went from seventh position into fourth place. Still on the first lap, Bird managed to overtake Lotterer and Vandoorne to make up a whopping five positions during the opening two laps.

Just three minutes into the race, Geox Dragon’s Felipe Nasr went into the barrier on Turn 2, building a blockage. Mahindra Racing’s Jerome d’Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein went into the stricken car what ended the race for all three drivers. The full course yellow was deployed before the Safety Car was sent on to the track. In the end, the race was temporarily stopped to give the marshalls time to clear the track. As the clock was still ticking down, 13 minutes were added to the clock to make up for the lost time under the red flag.

As the race was restarted, Rowland’s car lost drive out of Turn 1, handing Bird the lead. The Briton made a mistake, taking a wide line around Turn 2 which Lotterer used to slip into the lead.

Vandoorne suffered a technical failure on his HWA car which meant that the Safety Car had to be deployed for the second time. After the Belgian’s car was recovered, the race could be restarted.

After the technical gremlin with his car, Rowland was trying to make up for the lost ground before his car stopped following a contact with the wall. The safety car was deployed for the third time.

In the dying minutes of the race, Bird tried to take over the lead and drove into the back of Lotterer’s car, puncturing the German’s tyre. Lotterer continued at a slow speed and was limping on the track, while Bird took over the lead to take then the win.

Following FIA’s investigation, Sam Bird was found guilty and was given a five second penalty for puncturing Lotteres’s tyre. The time penalty dropped the Briton to sixth place, handing Edoardo Mortara his first the victory in Formula E. With the penalty, Lucas di Grassi earned the second place while Robin Frijns grabbed the third place.