Daniel Abt won the second Formula E race of the 2017/18 season in Hong Kong as both his nearest challengers made errors.
The start was delayed after the starting lights failed to work, which meant using the safety car to get the race underway. Coming in at the end of the first lap, polesitter Felix Rosenqvist spun into the first corner and fell outside the top 10.
Inheriting the lead from Rosenqvist, Eduardo Mortara led from Daniel Abt and a fading Mitch Evans, who led a group including Antonio Felix da Costa, Alex Lynn, Jean-Eric Vergne and Rosenqvist.
Rosenqvist was the big winner from the pitstop sequence, getting ahead of Evans for third. Having led for the majority of the race, Mortara spun with two laps remaining, elevating Abt’s Audi to the lead and Rosenqvist to second, the Venturi driver suggesting over the radio there was a problem with the car and crossed the line in third.
Evans, who had a queue of drivers behind him for much of the race, came home fourth. Vergne gained fifth on the last lap, as Lynn hit problems at the end of the race, with DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird coming home sixth. The opening race winner making his way through the field after his grid penalty following yesterday’s pit lane accident.
After a fairly quiet race, Oliver Turvey could only manage seventh for NIO after starting eighth, with Maro Engel securing a double points finish for Venturi in eighth. Nico Prost finished ninth for championship favourites Renault e.dams, and after a last lap problem Alex Lynn rounded out the top 10.
Championship favourites Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi failed to score points for the second race in succession, finishing outside the top 10. Buemi, who started from the back of the field only made his way back to 11th, while di Grassi stopped momentarily on circuit falling to 17th.
