Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne secured the 2017-2018 Formula E championship in the first race of the 2018 New York City ePrix.
Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne secured the 2017-2018 Formula E championship to become the fourth different driver to win a Formula E championship in the fourth season of the sport’s existence.
Vergne sealed the championship in the 11th race of the 12-race 2017-2018 season, which was the first race of the 2018 New York City ePrix. He finished in fifth place in his #25 Spark-Renault in the 43-lap race around the 13-turn, 1.21-mile (1.947-kilometer) Brooklyn Street Circuit in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York.
As a result of his fifth place finish, Vergne scored 10 points. He entered the race with a 23-point lead in the championship standings over DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird in second in the standings. Bird finished the race in ninth in his #2 Spark-Citroen, and he scored two points as a result of it.
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By outscoring Bird by eight points in the race, Vergne extended his lead in the driver championship standings over Bird from 23 points to 31 points (173 to 142).
With one race to go in the 2017-2018 season, Bird can only make up a maximum of 29 points, as winning nets a driver 25 points, taking the pole position for a race nets a driver three points and recording the fastest lap in a race nets a driver one point.
As a result, Bird has no way of jumping ahead of Vergne for first place in the championship standings in the season’s final race, which is the second race of the 2018 New York City ePrix. That race is scheduled to take place on the same track where today’s race took place, and it is scheduled to take place tomorrow afternoon.
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While then 2017-2018 Formula E driver championship battle has been decided, the team championship battle is not yet finished. Techeetah currently lead Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler by five points (235 to 230) in the team championship standings.
Tune in to the 2017-2018 season finale, the second race of the 2018 New York City ePrix, tomorrow at 2:30 p.m. ET on Fox Sports 1 to see how this season’s team championship battle will end.