Sebastien Buemi put on a dominant performance in Punta Del Este to win his second race of the season for the Renault eDAMS team.
Having disappointed in qualifying, the Swiss driver made his way through the field, eventually leading by the half race pit stops. Despite losing time through a full course yellow, his position never looked in doubt, even with an attacking Lucas Di Grassi who eventually finished in second.
With the loss of Jacques Villeneuve in qualifying, a grid of seventeen cars lined up on the grid. Pole position man led away the field, but not so much for his teammate Duval who lost track position to Bird and took second into the first chicane. Buemi only improved to fourth, out of position from qualifying with his team mate Nico Prost losing a place to Daniel Abt.
Bruno Senna slowed on lap three with Da Costa and then Frijns overtaking the Mahindra, a puncture forcing the Brazilian back to the pits. Buemi was also making moves to recover his position, taking third from Loic Duval. He instantly had Bird in his sights, with D’Ambrosio making a gap ahead.
Bird dropped to fourth, with Buemi free to attack D’Ambrosio at the front. The gap reduced quickly with the Swiss driver right on the back of the Dragon car. He made the move stick on lap 8. In the group behind Duval was ahead of Bird and Di Grassi, while Daniel Abt had dropped down the order in 8th after initially overtaking his team mate.
Vergne, Sarrazin and Bird were announced as Fan Boost winners on lap ten, while Berthon near the back of the field had a spin at the final corner. In the pack at the front of the field, Di Grassi overtook Bird.
With a third of the race completed on lap 11, all of the leading cars had the same amount of energy.
Yellow flags were out once again on lap 13, with Bruno Senna heading into the wall on lap 12. He came out right in front of Nelson Piquet, blocking him on the exit of the final chicane. The Mahindra driver would come in the pits after complaining about the front right.
Di Grassi was also a man on the move, closing in on the back of Loic Duval and looking by far the fastest of the two drivers. He had another look on lap 16, still on the back of the Dragon car.
The first stoppers were Abt, Sarrazin and Turvey from the lower end of the top ten, with the majority of the other cars stopping a lap later. The top five were right together entering the pitlane, especially from second to fifth. Buemi led them away, Di Grassi came out of the pits in second with D’Ambrosio in third and Bird in fifth.
On the out lap Bird slowed, he was told over the team that he would have to reset with the Virgin Racing car stationary in the middle of the track. He moved the car to perform another reset on the start/finish straight, off the racing line this time, but it didn’t work with the British driver exiting the car.
With Bird’s car still on the track, the full course yellow was brought out on lap 20. Buemi slowed earlier than Di Grassi, not realising that the race director was giving a countdown before it was implemented.
A countdown was also given to restart the race again just a lap later, a much reduced gap at the front to under a second with the two Dragon cars also battling closely behind in third and fourth. The Renault driver wasn’t pulling away this time from Di Grassi, the Abt driver only losing a little time on lap 23.
Oliver Turvey had mad his way up to eighth, but was given a penalty for being under the minimum pit stop time. Using his fan boost, Jean-Eric Vergne had made his way up to tenth, which would become ninth when Turvey pitted. Vergne was on a charge and closed on Piquet Jr, who had inherited eighth from his team mate.
With Buemi extending his lead at the front, the hot battle on track at the end of the race was Piquet Jr and Vergne. The Frenchmen made a move on the Brazilian on the final lap, with the two cars banging wheels. The positions stayed the same at the exit of the corner, but at the very next Nelson Piquet went off in a big way, bringing out a yellow flag in the final sector.
It effectively meant the end of the race, with a dominant win from Sebastien Buemi, ahead of Abt’s Lucas Di Grassi and pole sitter Jerome D’Ambrosio in third.
