Formula E: Sam Bird wins 2019 Hong Kong ePrix
By Asher Fair
Sam Bird earned his second victory of the 2018-2019 Formula E season in the season’s fifth race, the Hong Kong ePrix, at Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit.
Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird became the first driver to win two races in the 2018-2019 Formula E season, and he did so by winning the season’s fifth race, the Hong Kong ePrix, at Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit in controversial fashion.
Bird, who started the 36-lap race around the 16-turn, 1.16-mile (1.860-kilometer) Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit temporary street circuit on Central Harbourfront of Hong Kong Island, Hong Kong in seventh place in his #2 Spark-Audi, won it by 1.694 seconds over Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara, who finished in second in his #48 Spark-Venturi.
Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi, Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns and Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Daniel Abt rounded out the top five by finishing in third, fourth and fifth place in their #11 Spark-Audi, #4 Spark-Audi and #66 Spark-Audi, respectfully.
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Venturi’s Felipe Massa, Panasonic Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans, HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffett, NIO’s Oliver Turvey and BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Antonio Felix da Costa rounded out the top 10 by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #19 Spark-Venturi, #20 Spark-Jaguar, #17 Spark-Venturi, #16 Spark-NIO and #28 Spark-BMW, respectively.
With just under two seconds remaining before the timer on this 45-minute race hit 0:00, meaning that the current lap would be completed and just one more lap would be contested before the race ended, DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer was leading the race ahead of Bird in second place.
These two drivers had bumped and banged into one another several times following the race’s final restart, and with just under two seconds remaining on this 45-minute timer, the right rear tire on Lotterer’s car went down, relegating him to a 14th place finish.
There is an ongoing investigation into the bumping and banging between Lotterer and Bird that took place before one of Lotterer’s tires went down.
The race featured a total of five lead changes among three drivers. Aside of Bird, who led only three laps, two other drivers led at least one lap of the race. Those drivers were Lotterer, who led more laps than anybody else in the field with 27 laps led, and Oliver Rowland.
Stoffel Vandoorne, who started the race from the pole position, did not lead any of its laps, as Rowland passed him on lap one, and he ended up being forced to retire with a mechanical issue, relegating him to a 16th place finish. Of the 22 drivers who started the race, 14 finished it. All 14 of the drivers who finished the race finished it on the lead lap.
Here are the full race results of the 2019 Hong Kong ePrix at Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit.
Race Results
1st – Sam Bird
2nd – Edoardo Mortara
3rd – Lucas di Grassi
4th – Robin Frijns
5th – Daniel Abt
6th – Felipe Massa
7th – Mitch Evans
8th – Gary Paffett
9th – Oliver Turvey
10th – Antonio Felix da Costa
11th – Jose Maria Lopez
12th – Tom Dillmann
13th – Jean-Eric Vergne
14th – Andre Lotterer
15th – Oliver Rowland
16th – Stoffel Vandoorne
17th – Sebastien Buemi
18th – Alexander Sims
19th – Felipe Nasr
20th – Pascal Wehrlein
21st – Jerome d’Ambrosio
22nd – Nelson Piquet Jr.
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The next race on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule is the Sanya ePrix, which is the sixth of 13 races on this season’s schedule. This race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, March 23, and it is set to take place at Sanya Street Circuit in Sanya, China. Be sure not to miss it.