2014 Punta del Este ePrix

The 2014 Punta del Este ePrix, formally the 2014 FIA Formula E Julius Baer Punta del Este ePrix[1] is a Formula E motor race held on 13 December 2014 at the Punta del Este Street Circuit in Punta del Este, Uruguay. It was the first Punta del Este ePrix and the third championship race of the single-seater, electrically powered racing car series' inaugural season, the first in the Americas.[2]

Jean-Éric Vergne started on pole position. Behind him were Nelson Piquet, Jr., Nicolas Prost, and Sébastien Buemi. Piquet immediately overtook Vergne and Buemi overtook Prost, while the whole field safely squeezed through the first chicane. Nick Heidfeld used his FanBoost and went up to fifth position. On the fourth lap, Sam Bird went over a kerb in the first corner and, unable to steer, hit the wall. This brought out the safety car.

Green flags were waved on the sixth lap, but the race was soon neutralized again when Da Costa had to retire on track. After that, Vergne managed to pass Piquet for the lead. Buemi tried to pass him as well, but locked up his front wheels. Both drivers had to use the run-off area, but kept their positions.

On the sixteenth lap, Piquet had fallen back behind both e.dams drivers, and Vergne made his pit stop. Meanwhile, Stéphane Sarrazin's suspension failed when he hit a kerb and he crashed out. This brought out a third safety car. Bruno Senna had hit the wall in the same incident, but managed to switch cars at the same time as his rivals, without losing much time.

On the twentieth lap, Heidfeld was leading the race, but received a drive-through penalty for exceeding the maximum power usage. Nicolas Prost was then penalized in the same manner. This left the top three as Buemi, Vergne, Piquet. A fourth safety car was called on lap 27 when Matthew Brabham crashed exactly like Sarrazin did earlier.

With two laps left to race, Vergne used his FanBoost as soon as the safety car pulled off, but did not manage to take the lead. Buemi, however, cut the chicane and it was debated whether he should relinquish his position. Before any action was carried out, however, Vergne ran out of power and retired. He did score three points for his pole position. Buemi took the victory with Piquet second and Di Grassi third. Further back, Heidfeld used his FanBoost and managed to take tenth position, and with that a championship point, by beating Antonio Garcia to the line by just three hundreds of a second.

The ABB FIA Formula E Championship is making its third visit to the Atlantic seafront in Uruguay this weekend (17 March), as the Punta del Este E-Prix returns after a year’s absence as round six of the 2017/18 season.

Fresh from a thrilling race in Mexico City just two weeks ago, which saw a breakthrough win for Daniel Abt and Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, the 20 all-electric racers are preparing for the challenges of the street circuit by the sea, as the roads lining the idyllic coastline are converted to a challenging racetrack.

The 2.785km course features 20 corners, and is an exciting mixture of high speed sweeping curves and tight chicanes. The city hosted events in the first two seasons of Formula E, and notably was the place where season two champion Sebastien Buemi scored his first win, and where current standings leader Jean-Eric Vergne put his car on pole position for the first time.

Returning to the venue for the third time is also an opportunity to show how far the development of the Formula E car has come since the series’ inception. In 2014, the lap count for the Punta del Este E-Prix was 31, rising to 33 in 2015, and now in 2018 there is a marked increase to 37 laps.

The result of the fifth round of the championship in Mexico City surprisingly did not affect the top five positions on the points table, with Vergne leading for TECHEETAH, followed by Mahindra Racing’s Felix Rosenqvist and DS ****** Racing’s Sam Bird. Buemi’s brace of third places for Renault e.dams at the last two rounds cements his position in fourth, while Nelson Piquet Jr will be looking to break onto the podium this weekend for Panasonic Jaguar Racing having finished in fourth place three times this season.

NIO Formula E Team's Oliver Turvey scored a breakthrough podium for the manufacturer in Mexico City and will be hoping to build on that success, while Audi is confident it has resolved the reliability issues that have troubled reigning champion Lucas di Grassi so far this season which will likely see both he and recent winner Abt towards the front once again.

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