Malaysian ePrix 2014

SAM BIRD WINS PUTRAJAYA EPRIX IN MALAYSIA; KARUN CHANDHOK 6TH

Sam Bird of ****** Racing flew to victory in the 2014 FIA Formula E Ycapital Management Putrajaya ePrix. He beat championship-leader Lucas di Grassi of Audi Sport ABT and Sebastien Buemi of e.dams-Renault who came in 2nd and 3rd respectively. The ****** Racing driver crossed the line to pick up the full 25 points and clinch his maiden ePrix win.

Bird also dedicated his win to former GP2 team-mate Jules Bianchi, who was severely injured in the Japanese Grand Prix. Bianchi who raced for Marussia sustained fatal head injuries in an F1 race in Japan. He is still in coma and has been shifted to Nice in France. “I have to dedicate this win to a good friend of mine who is very ill. It’s very sad what’s happened to him and this one is for Jules. The weekend went really well, we were quick from the first outing and we were quickest in practice. Qualifying didn’t quite go our way as I think we were not in the best group for doing a fast lap time but we put that right in the race. The first stint I was able to get a very good gap which meant we could take it easy and not make any silly mistakes, do some lift and coasting, and coast to the finish,” he said. Lucas di Grassi and Sebastien Buemi both managed to fight their way through the field to stand on the podium despite starting at the back of the grid, said a press statement from FIA Formula E.

Meanwhile, India's Karun Chandhok of Mahindra Racing Formula E team had a mixed day on the streets of Putrajaya, Malaysia after a pit stop problem cost him a podium position. Chandhok finished in 6th position after fighting back from 11th in an eventful race that saw him running in 3rd position for the first half of the race. Chandhok has moved up to 3rd position in the Championship after completion of two rounds of the inaugural FIA Formula E series. Chandhok’s teammate Bruno Senna crashed out of fourth place with just a few corners remaining.

Chandhok, who started 5th on the grid, made the most of a slow starting Daniel Abt to make his way into fourth place while Senna also made up a place passing the Abt car. Two separate incidents on the opening lap created the need for the safety car as debris were cleared from the circuit.

At the restart both Mahindra Racing cars remained in contention with Chandhok holding onto fourth, before making his way into third place by pulling off a great move on pole sitter Oriol Servia into turn 1. Chandhok was in third place putting pressure on 2nd placed ex-F1 driver Jarno Trulli for the first half of the race. Unfortunately a delay in the pits lost Chandhok 14 seconds and positions as he slipped back to 11th place as he exited the pits. Senna meanwhile had also swapped to his second Mahindra car, and was ninth.

Senna was keen to make progress through the field however and made up several positions due to overtakes and drive through penalties for other drivers. Using his Fan Boost, Senna passed Nicholas Prost to take fourth place. Chandhok was also making progress, up to seventh place after passing Daniel Abt.

Senna crashed on the last lap when following third placed man Sebastien Buemi closely and made heavy impact with the barriers while Chandhok meanwhile had done well to recover to sixth place.

Reflecting on his race, Chandhok said, “Unfortunately the pit stop didn’t go too well for us. One of our regular mechanics was taken to hospital yesterday so we’re a man down so it wasn’t quite a slick as normal. If we look at where the time we lost would have put us, I think we would have been easily on the podium. I was running in third place earlier on, feeling comfortable, not taking any risks but the pace was there. I’m driving well and we have a good car so we need to make sure everything comes together in Uruguay.”

Team Principal Dilbagh Gill added, “Again, it’s been a very eventful Formula E weekend with many ups and downs. As in Beijing we showed very good pace, we clearly have a handle on the technical side but it didn’t quite come together this weekend in terms of the podium results we deserved. There are positives to take away; strong pace again and the fantastic support of the fans who supported Bruno again through Fan Boost, for which we are very thankful. We now head to Uruguay confident of better results.”

The Mahindra Racing Formula E team will be back in action in three week’s time for round three of the season at the Punta Del Este, Uruguay. Chandhok is supported by long term supporters JK Tyre, as well as Tag Heuer, Sidvin and the AVT group.

Venturi’s Nick Heidfeld was excluded from the Putrajaya ePrix results after his pit stop car change was adjudged to have taken place outside of the permitted area.

His exclusion means his 19th-place finish cannot be counted as a dropped result at the end of the season.

Other penalties include the Trulli team being fined 5000 Euros for releasing Michela Cerruti from the pit in practice with one of the wheel nuts not having been properly tightened.

Katherine Legge will start with a 10-place grid penalty at her next race for Amlin Aguri as the team had to change the RESS device on her car. Legge was one of a number of drivers to pick up a drive-through penalty in the race. The others included Franck Montagny and Jarno Trulli.

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