Vergne seals 2018/19 Formula E title in New York; Frijns wins race

    Jean-Eric Vergne has now become Formula E’s first double champion; DS Techeetah secures teams’ championship in New York.

    Published On Jul 15, 2019 12:20:00 PM

    3,885 Views

    Jean-Éric Vergne was able to successfully defend his Formula E title after a 7th place finish at the season finale race in New York handed him enough points to win the 2018/19 drivers’ championship. Additionally, Vergne’s team DS Techeetah was also able to successfully secure the teams’ title. While Vergne and DS Techeetah were celebrating their title victory, Envision Virgin Racing had their own reason to celebrate, as Robin Frijns won the second New York E-Prix to score his second victory of the season.

    The race started off on a dramatic note as José María López stopped on track just 5min into the race after colliding with André Lotterer. The incident brought out the safety car and Lotterer headed to the pits soon after, to retire – denying DS Techeetah a double points-finish. Once racing resumed, pole-sitter Alexander Sims remained firmly in control out at front. Behind him, Frijns was able to pass Sébastien Buemi to move up to 2nd place.

    The top three then held position for the first half of the race; but with 20min to go, Frijns pulled off a race-winning move on Sims at Turn 1 to take the race lead. From then on, he started pulling away and ultimately won the race by a hefty margin of 3.2sec. Sims was able to fend off Buemi to clinch 2nd place, claiming his first Formula E podium finish.

    Buemi himself was able to secure 2nd place in the drivers’ championship as title contenders Lucas di Grassi and Mitch Evans collided on the last lap while coming into Turn 11. The incident resulted in di Grassi dropping to 3rd in the championship, while Evans dropped to 5th in the drivers’ championship standings, behind Frijns.

    Sam Bird secured 4th place, ahead of Daniel Abt and Oliver Rowland. With the title at stake, Vergne approached the race more cautiously and finished in 7th place, while Stoffel Vandoorne, António Félix da Costa and Gary Paffett wrapped up the top 10.

    Mahindra Racing was unable to score any points in the race, with Jérôme d’Ambrosio and Pascal Wehrlein finishing 11th and 13th, respectively. This puts the Indian team at 6th place in the teams’ championship at the end of the season.

    Race results

    POS

    DRIVER

    TEAM

    CAR

    GAP

    1

    Robin Frijns

    Virgin

    Audi

    47m22.289s

    2

    Alexander Sims

    BMW

    BMW

    3.200s

    3

    Sébastien Buemi

    e.dams

    Nissan

    3.912s

    4

    Sam Bird

    Virgin

    Audi

    4.270s

    5

    Daniel Abt

    Audi

    Audi

    4.757s

    6

    Oliver Rowland

    e.dams

    Nissan

    8.382s

    7

    Jean-Éric Vergne

    DS Techeetah

    DS

    9.446s

    8

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    HWA

    Venturi

    9.738s

    9

    António Félix da Costa

    BMW

    BMW

    11.727s

    10

    Gary Paffett

    HWA

    Venturi

    12.251s

    11

    Jérôme d'Ambrosio

    Mahindra

    Mahindra

    18.944s

    12

    Alex Lynn

    Jaguar

    Jaguar

    19.420s

    13

    Pascal Wehrlein

    Mahindra

    Mahindra

    27.144s

    14

    Oliver Turvey

    NIO

    NIO

    28.045s

    15

    Tom Dillmann

    NIO

    NIO

    28.580s

    16

    Felipe Massa

    Venturi

    Venturi

    28.635s

    17

    Mitch Evans

    Jaguar

    Jaguar

    1m05.009s

    18

    Lucas di Grassi

    Audi

    Audi

    1 Lap

    19

    Maximilian Gunther

    Dragon

    Penske

    2 Laps

    -

    Edoardo Mortara

    Venturi

    Venturi

    Retirement

    -

    André Lotterer

    DS Techeetah

    DS

    Retirement

    -

    José María López

    Dragon

    Penske

    Retirement

    Drivers’ championship

    POS

    DRIVER

     

    Points

     

    1

    Jean-Éric Vergne

     

    136

    2

    Sébastien Buemi

     

    119

    3

    Lucas di Grassi

     

    108

    Teams’ championship

    POS

    Team

     

    Points

    1

    DS Techeetah

     

    222

    2

    Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

     

    203

    3

    Envision Virgin Racing

     

    191

     

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