[caption id="attachment_8274" align="alignleft" width="950"] Mortara wins Hong Kong Formula E after Bird penalty. An FIA image[/caption]

Hong Kong, 10 March 2019: Edoardo Mortara inherited his first-ever Formula E victory in Hong Kong after Sam Bird was handed a time penalty for causing a collision with Andre Lotterer on the penultimate lap.

Bird and Lotterer were locked in a race-long duel, with seconds separating the pair throughout the duration of the entire E-Prix. As the clock counted down, Bird made a lunge for the lead into Turn 2 and made contact with the rear of Lotterer.

Despite the hit from behind Lotterer held position and managed to keep Bird at bay, but Lotterer soon started to slow after suffering a puncture from the earlier contact leaving him limping home and eventually coming to a stop out on track.

This allowed Bird to swoop in front and take the chequered flag. However, Bird was later denied his second victory of the season after being issued with a five-second penalty - dropping him to sixth position.

Mortara is therefore elevated to first place - marking a maiden win for the Swiss driver and a first victory for VENTURI Formula E Team. Mortara progressed up the field from sixth on the grid to claim his second consecutive podium finish on the road - with a third-place last time out in Mexico City.

It was another Venturi-powered car that led away from the front, with Stoffel Vandoorne setting the fastest lap in wet conditions to secure pole position and get HWA RACELAB off the mark with three points.

Vandoorne maintained the trend this season of no driver converting pole into victory - again highlighting that nothing is a given in Formula E. With damp patches and puddles out on track, Vandoorne was beaten off the line by Oliver Rowland. But it didn’t last long as Rowland briefly slowed and dropped down the order.

Bird jumped to the head the pack, however soon relinquished the lead to Lotterer after locking-up in the slippery braking zone of Turn 2. Proceedings were soon brought to a standstill after a coming together between Felipe Nasr and the two MAHINDRA RACING drivers.

Nasr - who was struggling to slow the car with damaged bodywork - went into the wall at Turn 2, with Pascal Wehrlein and Jerome D’Ambrosio close behind and following him to the scene of the accident. The red flag halted running in order to clear the cars and the race later restarted behind the safety car.

With changes to the classification, Lucas di Grassi was promoted to second and Bird’s team-mate Robin Frijns rounded-out the podiums places for Envision Virgin Racing. Despite losing out on maximum points, Bird moves to the top of the standings - with an extra point for fastest lap.

With yet another different winner and only two points between the top-four drivers, Formula E returns to mainland China for the inaugural race in Sanya - round six of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship on March 23.

Edoardo Mortara, VENTURI Formula E Team, said: "The result today is fantastic. Fourth in Santiago, third in Mexico, now my first victory in Hong Kong! I’m so proud and finding out that I had won was an incredible feeling for me. The race was awesome and I've had a wonderful weekend - historically racing in Asia brings me so much luck - honestly, I’m over the moon and I couldn’t be happier. The team have done a brilliant job, they put in all the hours and pull out all the stops - this result is a tribute to their hard work. This result is for them - I know that it will motivate them even more and I can’t wait to get back out on the track."

Lucas di Grassi, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, said: "Sometimes you have to race with your head, not with your heart and today I had to do that. I had a bad start not because of anything but because I chose the wrong path and I was overtaken by Sam and Edo. If you go flat out, the only way to overtake is to force your way through and when you do that there are risks of crashing, penalties, so I tried to wait for Edo to make a mistake in the last two laps. He didn’t and then from me it was impossible to overtake with only half a second left on ATTACK MODE so we had to calm down and collect the points.

Five drivers have done all the 50 races I have been on the podium 31 times, I have been disqualified twice, so 29! We must believe in this championship, for me there is no better way to race and everybody should be very proud of what we have achieved together.”

Envision Virgin Racing, Robin Frijns, said: "It’s been a mixed day with the ever-changing conditions and our first wet race. We got unlucky in qualifying meaning I started the race in P10, but having multiple safety cars and using my Attack Mode at a different time to most of the other drivers, allowed me to make my way forward during the race."

Race Result: 

1

Edoardo Mortara

VENTURI Formula E Team

59:36.119s

(25)

2

Lucas di Grassi

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

+0.988s

(18)

3

Robin Frijns

Envision Virgin Racing

+1.536s

(15)

4

Daniel Abt

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

+1.985s

(12)

5

Felipe Massa

VENTURI Formula E Team

+3.258s

(10)

6

Sam Bird

Envision Virgin Racing

+3.306s

(9)

7

Mitch Evans

Panasonic Jaguar Racing

+4.017s

(6)

8

Garry Paffett

HWA RACELAB

+4.368s

(4)

9

Oliver Turvey

NIO Formula E Team

+5.624s

(2)

10

Antonio Felix da Costa

BMW i Andretti Motorsport

+6.492s

(1)

11

Jose Maria Lopez

GEOX DRAGON

+7.218s

12

Tom Dillmann

NIO Formula E Team

+7.825s

13

Jean-Eric Vergne

DS TECHEETAH

+16.604s

14

Andre Lotterer

DS TECHEETAH

+24.270s

DNF

Oliver Rowland

Nissan e.dams

29 Laps

DNF

Stoffel Vandoorne

HWA RACELAB

20 Laps

(3)

DNF

Sebastien Buemi

Nissan e.dams

19 Laps

DNF

Alexander Sims

BMW i Andretti Motorsport

16 Laps

DNF

Felipe Nasr

GEOX DRAGON

1 Lap

DNF

Pascal Wehrlein

MAHINDRA RACING

1 Lap

DNF

Jerome D’Ambrosio

MAHINDRA RACING

1 Lap

DNF

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing

Drivers' Championship Standings:

Sam Bird

Envision Virgin Racing

54

Jerome D’Ambrosio

MAHINDRA RACING

53

Lucas di Grassi

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

52

Edoardo Mortara

VENTURI Formula E Team

52

Antonio Felix da Costa

BMW i Andretti Motorsport

47

Robin Frijns

Envision Virgin Racing

43

Daniel Abt

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

34

Mitch Evans

Panasonic Jaguar Racing

34

Pascal Wehrlein

MAHINDRA RACING

30

Andre Lotterer

DS TECHEETAH

29

Jean-Eric Vergne

DS TECHEETAH

28

Alexander Sims

BMW i Andretti Motorsport

18

Sebastien Buemi

Nissan e.dams

15

Felipe Massa

VENTURI Formula E Team

14

Oliver Rowland

Nissan e.dams

6

Oliver Turvey

NIO Formula E Team

6

Gary Paffett

HWA RACELAB

4

Stoffel Vandoorne

HWA RACELAB

3

Jose Maria Lopez

GEOX DRAGON

2

Nelson Piquet Jr.

Panasonic Jaguar Racing

1

Tom Dillmann

NIO Formula E Team

0

Maximilian Gunther

GEOX DRAGON

0

Felipe Nasr

GEOX DRAGON

0

Felix Rosenqvist

MAHINDRA RACING

0

Teams' Championship Standings:

Envision Virgin Racing

97

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler

86

MAHINDRA RACING

83

VENTURI Formula E Team

66

BMW i Andretti Motorsport

65

DS TECHEETAH

57

Panasonic Jaguar Racing

35

Nissan e.dams

21

HWA RACELAB

7

NIO Formula E Team

6

GEOX DRAGON

2