Counterpunching in all its glory: di Grassi wins in Long Beach

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New championship leader Lucas di Grassi was able to show another flawless performance in North America and won on the streets of Long Beach ahead of Stephane Sarrazin and team mate Daniel Abt. Renault e.Dams experienced a rather black weekend with both cars outside the top-10.

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Following a disqualification from Antonio Felix da Costa (Team Aguri), it was DS Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird who started the Long Beach ePrix from pole-position with title contender Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) right next to him in the first row. Going into the much discussed first chicane, Bird could defend his lead against di Grassi. Right behind the leadind duo, Stephane Sarrazin (Venturi) and Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing) maintained their positions as well but Robin Frinjs (Andretti) on P5 struggled a bit during the start but he was nevertheless able to fight off Daniel Abt (ABT Schaeffler Adui Sport) right behind him.

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In the midfield it was Jerome d’Ambrosio (Dragon Racing) and Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Virgin Racing) who were providing some entertainment with their wheel-to-wheel battle, with the better end for the Belgian. Further down the field, da Costa started to charge through the field, already gaining four positions at the start. Nonetheless, he lost quite some time behind Loic Duval (Dragon Racing) and therefore had to make up three seconds until he was in a position to challenge Simona de Silvestro (Andretti).

At the top, Bird, di Grassi and Sarrazin were able to pull away from their persecutors. Frijns then benefitted from Heidfeld dropping a few positions due to a driving error. Championship leader Sebastien Buemi (Renault e.Dams) was trying to move up the field after a rather disappointing qualifying session: on lap 9 he was able pass Abt for P5.

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Buemi’s pursuit of the lead took a turn for the worse on lap 12 when he tried to pass Frijns for fourth. The two drivers collided and damaged their cars which ultimately forced them to stop on lap 16. Both Frijns and Buemi changed into their second cars but it was unlikely that either of them would make it to the end of the race. Buemi was found guilty of causing the accident and therefore had to take a drive through penalty as a result. Benefitting from this incident were Abt and Nicolas Prost (Renault e.Dams) who inherited P4 and P5.

On top, di Grassi put himself in a position to challenge Bird for the lead. He made his move on lap 12 and was able to take the Brit by surprise, thus taking the lead of the race. The field was mainly keeping their respective positions until Vergne and Duval introduced the grid to the official car change phase on lap 20. One lap later, the majority of drivers with the exception of Buemi, Frijns and the two Mahindra Racing drivers followed.

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Di Grassi kept his lead ahead of Bird when leaving the pits with Sarrazin and Abt closely following the leading duo. On lap 23, pressure was taken off di Grassi though as a driving error forced Bird into the wall. Fortunately, the Brit could resume his race in P7 and was battling Senna for P6 for the following laps. The stops saw Prost dropping down the order as the Frenchman had to take a drive through penalty as his stop was under the minimum time of 67 seconds, concluding the black weekend for Renault e.Dams.

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Another penalty followed for Salvador Duran (Team Aguri) due to an energy overuse in his first car. The race developed rather well for da Costa who found himself in P8 with seven laps to go yet his performance would not be rewarded: on lap 35, the Portuguese had to retire from the race due to some technical issues. Further up the field, Heidfeld was closing the gap to Abt, whetting the fans’ appetite for a German-German duel. The outbreak of battle was nevertheless prevented as reigning champion Nelson Piquet Jr (NEXTEV TCR) brought the Safety Car on track as he found himself in the wall after a driving error in turn 1. Di Grassi thus lost his 4-second lead ahead of Sarrazin and Abt.

The race was restarted on lap 39 with di Grassi setting the pace. The Brazilian could pull away from Sarrazin out the Frenchman did not make it easy for him. Meanwhile Heidfeld tried to pass Abt with the help of FanBoost yet he could not quite make this manoeuvre work. The only drivers losing positions after the restart were Prost and Vergne due to several problems but Prost recovered and moved up to P11.

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With another flawless performance, di Grassi secured the victory in Long Beach ahead of Sarrazin who celebrated his first ever Formula E podium. Abt completed the podium as he was able to fight off Heidfeld in the end. Another first was celebrated by Simona de Silvestro who not only secured her first points in the series but is also the first ever woman in the series to finish in the top-10.

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Sam Bird led the race until lap 12 when Lucas di Grassi overtook him for P1. The Brazilian then went on the control the race from the lead with lap 22 as the only exception when he changed his car.

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As the extra points for pole-postion and fastest lap were awarded to Sam Bird (8 points) and Sebastien Buemi (0 points), the three drivers with the most points scored in Long Beach are Lucas di Grassi, Stephane Sarrazin and Daniel Abt.

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Not taking into account Lucas di Grassi’s exclusion from the Mexico ePrix, Stephane Sarrazin gained the most positions in comparison with Mexico as he went from P9 to P2. With a five-place improvement each, Simona de Silvestro and Bruno Senna come in second.

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Loic Duval started the race in P16 and crossed the line as 8th, therefore gaining eight positions. Six places were made up by Mike Conway, while both Daniel Abt and Simona de Silvestro gained four positions.

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Following his collision with Sebastien Buemi, Robin Frijns was first to stop earlier than planned. With the help of the Safety Car he made it to the end of the race against all odds, yet he finished in P15 only, losing nine positions overall. Only one position less was lost by Buemi who lost his positions due to the accident and the consequential penalty. Sam Bird meanwhile lost five positions following an incident that forced him into the wall.

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The fastest lap was set by Sebastien Buemi with an impressive 57,938.

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Based on their free practice 1 performance and their quickest qualifying lap, Nick Heidfeld, Bruno Senna and Jerome d’Ambrosio showed the biggest performance improvement throughout the day. Heidfeld gained 2.427 seconds in comparison, while Senna was 2.173 seconds quicker in qualifying. d’Ambrosio improved his performance by 1.760 seconds.

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With a strong third-place finish in Long Beach last year and a dominant victory this season, Lucas di Grassi has finished second on average in Long Beach, making him the best performing driver on the track.

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Image courtesy of FIA Formula E Media

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