ERN’s Moments of the Race – Buenos Aires

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After a classic Buenos Aires ePrix in which Sam Bird held off a charging Sebastien Buemi to take victory, e-racing.net’s managing editor Renate Jungert and senior editor Laurence Thorn have come together to discuss their top moments from the race.

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RJ: I am as usual quite torn today: Sam Bird, today’s race winner, did everything right, from a test start defending against Nicolas Prost to effortlessly managing the race from the front and holding off Sebastien Buemi in the last laps, but on the other hand, Buemi’s impressive performance of fighting through the field after having started from the back of the grid cannot go unmentioned.

LT: Buemi obviously did a fantastic job to put a qualifying mistake behind him and charge through the field to finish second. However he was unable to pass one man at the end, and that was Sam Bird. The Brit put in a dogged drive to hang on to his first win of the season, managing his battery well and defending strongly to clinch victory. This accolade goes to Sam.

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RJ: This one goes to Sam Bird as well. The Brit started from pole position and fought off the attack of Nicolas Prost through the first corner, then kept his foot down and remained in a lead that was never threatened until the very last laps.

LT: Sam made a good start of course, but this time I go for Buemi. His start was quick and clean, and what’s more he made some perfect decisions on the first lap as to where to place his car. As a result, he already gained three places on the first lap as he moved up to P15.

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RJ: The move of Buemi in lap 28, conquering second place by dashing past Lucas di Grassi, was a very beautiful one, however, di Grassi’s Fanboost gets an assist on that one as it did not deploy and left the Brasilian defenseless. So, my vote for this award goes to another move for second place, namely Antonio Felix da Costa outbraking Nicolas Prost and slicing beautifully through the inside of the Frenchman.

LT: I have to agree on da Costa, he showed great bravery and car control to make that move on a far quicker Renault e.dams car. We must remember that da Costa is in last year’s machinery, yet was able to make such an impressive move on the car that is undoubtedly the quickest this season. Highly impressive, and a shame he could not finish the race.

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RJ: That must be Sebastien Buemi. While none of us expected that the Swiss driver would remain in the back of the field, the fact that he made it up to second place is astonishing, Buemi has once again proven his skills and the speed of the e.dams car.

LT: While Buemi’s charge through the field was not something you see every day, we also knew he had the quickest car on the grid and, what’s more, we’ve seen similar drives in the past – including Putrajaya 2014 when Buemi himself moved from P19 on the grid to finish on the podium. My surprise is a negative one – after their improved qualifying pace, the NEXTEV team were unable to keep this up in the race. Oliver Turvey managed to finish in P9 and pick up a few points, but reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr was once again outside the points and only has four in the entire season.

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RJ: As beautiful as the aforementioned overtake of Antonio Felix da Costa was, unfortunately it all lead to nothing: Running in second place, da Costa’s car gave in just before the end of his first stint and the Portuguese was not able to restart it.

LT: Yes, da Costa is definitely the driver who can most complain about bad luck in this race. After a brilliant overtaking move and getting as high as P2, to have his race ended early with an issue entirely beyond his control was heartbreaking for the Portuguese driver – especially as a similar incident cost him a possible victory in Putrajaya earlier this season. Honourable mention also goes to Jean-Eric Vergne who battled food poisoning on race day, getting in no practice running and struggling to make an impression during the race.

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RJ: Apart from the usual suspects of NEXTEV TCR, Buemi did a great job keeping his energy levels under control while fighting his way through the field. Bird as well managed to find the perfect balance between staying in the lead, maintaining an advantage, and saving enough energy for the crucial first laps… This one goes to the race winner, Bird.

LT: Yes again we are in agreement, as Sam did a fantastic job of keeping a few percentage more battery in hand for that final stint. The two to three percent extra battery life he had proved to be absolutely crucial on the last lap as he was able to prevent Buemi making a decisive move for the lead, as the Swiss had to worry about his own consumption and Bird could turn his car up when necessary. Fantastic work from him.

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RJ: Mike Conway seemed promising after starting in the top ten and remaining there during the first stint, however, battery mismanagement and a spin forced the debutant to drop back and therefore out of contention for this award. Therefore, I’ll give this honour to Robin Frijns: once again, the Dutchman put in a solid points-scoring performance without any major errors.

LT: Frijns did a strong job yet again, continuing his record of scoring points in all four races this season and proving to have a mature head on his shoulders with a mature drive. Conway’s race looked very promising after qualifying but unfortunately for him he could not keep it up in the race. Frijns it is.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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