Daniel Abt, Audi, Formula E, Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, 2018

Abt claims maiden Formula E win in Mexico

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Daniel Abt scored his first Formula E victory, and the first for Audi since it became a factory team, in the fifth round of the series in Mexico City.

Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra, Formula E, Mexico City, 2018
Disaster struck Rosenqvist
Abt moved to the head of the field during the mid-race change of car when he jumped ahead of Oliver Turvey’s NIO car. Turvey had inherited the lead from pole sitter Felix Rosenqvist, who led the first 14 laps before being sidelined with a fault on his Mahindra car.

Tyurvey withstood sustained pressure from Sebastien Buemi in the final laps to claim second place and his first Formula E podium. Buemi, who had overtaken Jean-Eric Vergne using Fanboost earlier in the race, tested Turvey’s defences on several occasions but it was to no avail. The pair crossed the line separated by two-tenths of a second.

Vergne, the championship leader heading into the weekend, also lost a place to Nelson Piquet Jnr. The latter brought himself into contention by running a lap longer than the front runners in his first stint. Mitch Evans took sixth in the other Jaguar followed by Antonio Felix Da Costa and Edoardo Mortara.

Audi’s victory marked a turnaround from a difficult start to the season. Reigning champion Lucas di Grassi picked up his first points of the year from ninth place having started last due to a grid penalty for fitting more replacement engine components. A late pass on Alex Lynn secured ninth place and he picked up further points for setting the fastest lap.

Formula Formula E 2017-17 round five: Video highlights

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Keith Collantine
Lifelong motor sport fan Keith set up RaceFans in 2005 - when it was originally called F1 Fanatic. Having previously worked as a motoring...

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11 comments on “Abt claims maiden Formula E win in Mexico”

  1. Sweet. Great to see Formula E featuring so prominently.

    As for the race itself, it wasn’t as spectacular as most other races. It seems that permanent race tracks don’t really suit these cars.

    1. Agreed, with both comments.

      1. +1 Completely agree.

        Looking forward to next season’s “Batmobile” cars :)

    2. I wouldn’t say that about permanent tracks. The layout here was horrible and not designed at all well for aiding overtaking. Put these cars on tracks like COTA, Spa, Monza, without adding unnecessary chicanes, and I bet it would be great. Would love to see a FE race at Baku though…

    3. It’s because the air is so thin that slipstream is not effective.

  2. How long would they take to get around Baku, like 3 minutes?

    I find FE qualifying to be pretty exciting cause everyone is on the ragged edge and it seems every team has a fighting chance to get on pole just about. I guess that’s what is drawing me to the series mostly.

  3. It kind of sums up the disparity between F(E) and F1. Daniel was always a so so pilot in DTM but he wouldn’t have had a prayer in F1. Not a hope, mentally or physically. I’m glad he’s finally found his feet.

    1. He may not win again whilst there’s a chance of a different and deserving winner in every race. That’s the true disparity between FE and F1.
      Next years races in F1 will be dominated again by Lewis with 4 equal talents picking up scraps, whilst SKY viewers are treated to constant hype to try and justify their well over priced viewing package.

    2. I don’t agree. Daniel Art was and is a very talented racer. In Formula 3, in a generation with many of the current formula 1 drivers, he was actually faster and won many races. In racing often you need to have luck. Maybe a certain maturity at the right moment in time. Some drivers need some years to mature, just look at Hartley now on Toro-Rosso. I’m sure at least 7 or 8 drivers in this Formula E field would be capable of challenging top 10 positions in Formula 1 if they had the equipment and chance.

  4. I quite enjoyed this race, there was some drama and some great racing immediately after the pitstops. It was a shame we didn’t have a British winner… he just couldn’t get the lead back and dropped down the order as other strategies played out.

  5. Typo: “Tyurvey” at the start of the third paragraph.

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