Reigning Formula E champion Sebastien Buemi has claimed a third straight win of the season in a dominant fashion in Buenos Aires.
The Swiss driver was in imperious form once again as he extends his lead in the drivers’ championship over Lucas di Grassi to a whopping 29 points.
The Brazilian finished third after starting from pole position while Techeetah’s Jean- Eric Vergne picked up his first podium finish of the campaign in second.
The second Renault e.dams of Nicolas Prost was fourth ahead of 2014/15 champion Nelson Piquet Jr in a solid fifth.
Di Grassi maintained the lead over Vergne and Buemi off the line but proceedings were briefly halted for one lap after Jaguar Racing’s Adam Carroll stalled on the grid resulting in a full course yellow. Carroll along with team-mate Mitch Evans were hit with penalties from the stewards due to overspeeding.
Di Grassi was unable to keep either Vergne or Buemi behind for long. Both of them opting to overtake the Brazilian into the tricky Turn 1. He had scored his first ever pole position in Formula E but it is clear that the ABT powertrain was not on the level in terms of efficiency or raw speed as the Renault one.
Buemi’s pace advantage was there for everyone to see as he quickly made light work of Vergne for the lead. Formula E’s reigning champion quickly established a five-second lead over his competitors ahead of the stops on lap 20.
Vergne’s pursuit of a first podium finish of the season was helped by the slow pace of NEXTEV’s Turvey, who was holding up di Grassi, Prost and team-mate Piquet Jr.
Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist had been running well inside the top 10 and managed to save enough energy to go one extra lap meaning he could push further in the final stint. The 25-year-old chances of points were ruined after he was unable to leave the pits on time due to an electrical problem with his second Mahindra car.
As Buemi continued to dominate at the front of the field, di Grassi appeared to be comfortable in his second ABT Schaeffler car as he overtook Prost into Turn 1 for third place.
The pace of Vergne was impressive towards the latter stages of the ePrix as the gap game down to under three seconds but it seemed Buemi was managing the car as he went in search of another victory.
The order at the front remained static as Buemi secured a third-straight victory ahead of Vergne, di Grassi, Prost and Duval. di Grassi’s podium may be under threat as he is currently under investigation by the stewards for an ‘unsafe release’.
Loic Duval came home sixth while Daniel Abt fought back after a disappointing qualifying to seventh. Jerome d’Ambrosio was eighth in the end ahead of Oliver Turvey, who had been running as high as ninth but struggled with energy management in the second part of the race. Home-hero Jose Maria Lopez picked up the final point after starting from the back of the grid.
Mitch Evans missed out on a points finish due to his five-second penalty for overspeeding and is classified 13th. Antonio Felix da Costa was the highest placed Andretti car in 12th in what was a disappointing day for the team ahead of Stephane Sarrazin, Evans and Robin Frijns. Nick Heidfeld was 15th after picking up a drive-through penalty for a ‘pitlane infringement’.
