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Formula E: Buemi wins in Uruguay

Buemi, who started fourth, leapt ahead of DAMS team-mate Nico Prost at the start. Senna took sixth for Mahindra while Karun Chandhok finished only 13th.
3 min read14 Dec '14
Staff WriterStaff Writer
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Sebastian Buemi won his first Formula E race in the all-electric single-seater series' third round in Punta del Este in Uruguay, while Formula 1 convert Jean-Eric Vergne hit last-gasp trouble.

Buemi, who started fourth, leapt ahead of DAMS team-mate Nico Prost at the start to run third as Nelson Piquet Jr grabbed the lead from poleman Vergne, whose Andretti car suffered wheelspin as he attempted to cover the Brazilian's China Racing entry into Turn 1.

Piquet led for the opening dozen laps, but Vergne was all over him.

The Frenchman eventually found a way past with a decisive dive at the hairpin, but his power use had been high, which forced him to pit from the lead a lap earlier than his rivals.

As he did so, Stephane Sarrazin crashed out after slamming his Venturi car over the sausage kerbs at the quick chicane, which broke its suspension.

The safety car was required again, as it had been to recover Sam Bird's and Antonio Felix da Costa's cars earlier, and this, combined with the car swap cycle, jumbled up the order.

Nick Heidfeld took the lead, but was immediately given a drive-through for not taking the allotted time for his car swap.

Once he pitted, Buemi led from Vergne, who was again using much more power than those around him.

Piquet was running third, ahead of Prost, but the latter was also given a drive-through penalty, as his car had been detected over its power limit.

A late-race safety car for Matthew Brabham's crash, after he'd impressively charged from 19th to sixth, set up a classic finish.

Vergne pushed Buemi hard from the restart, and Buemi locked up and straightlined the second chicane. But just when it seemed Vergne would pounce again, his car slowed with broken front suspension.

As Buemi cruised to victory, Vergne's exit gifted Piquet second place, with Lucas di Grassi finishing third ahead of Jarno Trulli, Jaime Alguersuari and Bruno Senna, who had been sent to the back of the grid due to an issue with when his tyres were fitted ahead of qualifying.

Senna also broke his first car's suspension when he clipped the wall avoiding Sarrazin's crash, but he was able to immediately pit and switch to his other Spark-Renault.

Prost finished seventh, followed by the penalised Jerome d'Ambrosio, Oriol Servia and Heidfeld.

RESULTS - 31 LAPS:

Sebastien Buemie.dams49m08.990s
2
Nelsinho PiquetChina0.732s
3
Lucas di GrassiAbt2.635s
4
Jarno TrulliTrulli4.163s
5
Jaime AlguersuariVirgin4.698s
6
Bruno SennaMahindra5.197s
7
Nicolas Proste.dams6.514s
8
Jerome D'AmbrosioDragon7.567s
9
Oriol ServiaDragon8.646s
10
Nick HeidfeldVenturi10.563s
11
Antonio GarciaChina10.594s
12
Michela CerrutiTrulli19.617s
13
Karun ChandhokMahindra54.175s
14
Jean-Eric VergneAndrettiNot running
15
Daniel AbtAbt3 Laps
16
Salvador DuranAguri4 Laps
-
Matthew BrabhamAndrettiRetirement
-
Stephane SarrazinVenturiRetirement
-
Antonio Felix da CostaAguriRetirement
-
Sam BirdVirginRetirement

CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS AFTER THREE ROUNDS:

Lucas di Grassi58
2
Sebastien Buemi40
2
Sam Bird40
4
Nelsinho Piquet22
5
Jerome D'Ambrosio22
6
Nicolas Prost21
7
Franck Montagny18
8
Karun Chandhok18
9
Oriol Servia17
10
Jaime Alguersuari14
11
Jarno Trulli12
12
Charles Pic12
13
Bruno Senna8
14
Antonio Felix da Costa4
15
Daniel Abt4
16
Jean-Eric Vergne3
17
Stephane Sarrazin2
18
Takuma Sato2
19
Nick Heidfeld1

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