Sam Bird was left thinking what could have been, retiring shortly after changing cars in the Punta del Este ePrix.
The British DS Virgin Racing driver had made a great start from third on the grid, overtaking Dragon driver Loic Duval for second. Staying at the front, although dropping behind an advancing Sebastien Buemi, Bird was fifth at the pit stops and with the fan boost.
Upon exiting the pits, towards the end of the lap he slowed and then stopped. Stopping inn a dangerous position in the middle of the track, the Virgin driver then moved a safer place on the start/finish straight. There he would jump out of the car with a battery problem, punching the wall as he stood by the track.
Despite the result, Sam Bird was still happy with the race, “In the first half of the race, things felt really good and it was going really well. We showed a good turn of pace and I think there’s lots of positive signs to suggest that we can be challenging again in Buenos Aires.
“Like in Malaysia, I must give a lot of credit to the team, who put in a huge amount of work to repair the car between free practice one and the race after I hit the wall.”
Teammate Jean-Eric Vergne started from the back of the field to finish a season-best seventh, again with the aid of fan boost. The highlight of his race was a fierce battle on the final lap with current champion Nelson Piquet Jr, the Brazilian ultimately crashing in front of him heavily.
