Formula E: Robin Frijns earns first career win at 2019 Paris ePrix
By Asher Fair
Robin Frijns earned his first victory of the 2018-2019 Formula E season and the first victory of his Formula E career by winning the season’s eighth race, the Paris ePrix.
Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns earned his first victory of the 2018-2019 Formula E season and the first victory of his Formula E career by winning the eighth race on the 13-race 2018-2019 schedule, the Paris ePrix, at Circuit des Invalides.
Frijns’s maiden Formula E victory made him the eighth different driver to win a race through the first eight races of the season, and it made Envision Virgin Racing the first team to win two races this season.
Frijns, who started the 32-lap race, which turned out to be the first rain-soaked race in Formula E history, around the 14-turn, 1.20-mile (1.931-kilometer) Circuit des Invalides temporary street circuit in Paris, France in third place in his #4 Spark-Audi, won it by 1.373 seconds over DS Techeetah’s Andre Lotterer in second in his #36 Spark DS-Automobiles.
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Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler teammates Daniel Abt and Lucas di Grassi finished in third and fourth place in their #66 Spark-Audi and #11 Spark-Audi, respectively. Geox Dragon Racing’s Maximilian Gunther rounded out the top five by recording a career-high fifth place finish in his #6 Spark-Penske.
DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne, BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s Antonio Felix da Costa, HWA Racelab’s Gary Paffett, Venturi’s Felipe Massa and Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the top 10 by finishing in sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth and 10th place in their #25 Spark-DS Automobiles, #28 Spark-BMW, #17 Spark-Venturi, #19 Spark-Venturi and #94 Spark-Mahindra, respectively.
Nissan e.dams teammate Oliver Rowland and Sebastien Buemi started the race on the front row in first and second place in their #22 Spark-Nissan and #23 Spark-Nissan, respectively, but neither one could convert to become the eighth different driver representing an eighth different team to win a race this season.
Rowland hit the wall on the race’s opening lap and could only recover to finish in 12th place. Buemi took the lead as a result of this, and he led the next 10 laps. Frijns inherited the lead from Buemi via the race’s second and final lead change and did not look back when Buemi made the first of his race-high two pit stops on lap 11.
Frijns went on to lead the race’s final 22 laps while Buemi ended up finishing in 15th place, one lap off the lead lap. Of the 22 drivers who started the race, 16 finished it and 14 finished it on the lead lap.
Here are the full race results of the 2019 Paris ePrix at Circuit des Invalides.
Race Results
1st – Robin Frijns
2nd – Andre Lotterer
3rd – Daniel Abt
4th – Lucas di Grassi
5th – Maximilian Gunther
6th – Jean-Eric Vergne
7th – Antonio Felix da Costa
8th – Gary Paffett
9th – Felipe Massa
10th – Pascal Wehrlein
11th – Sam Bird
12th – Oliver Rowland
13th – Jose Maria Lopez
14th – Oliver Turvey
15th – Sebastien Buemi
16th – Mitch Evans
17th – Jerome d’Ambrosio
18th – Alex Lynn
19th – Edoardo Mortara
20th – Stoffel Vandoorne
21st – Alexander Sims
22nd – Tom Dillmann
The next race on the 2018-2019 Formula E schedule is the Monaco ePrix, which is the ninth of 13 races on this season’s schedule. This race is scheduled to take place on Saturday, May 11, and it is set to take place at Circuit de Monaco in Monte Carlo, Monaco. Be sure not to miss it.