Title fight comes to Paris for back-to-back races; Mahindra 3rd in standings: Formula E

Paris will host its second FIA Formula E Championship ePrix this weekend as the title fight comes to the streets around Invalides

Paris, 17 May 2017: For the first time in its history, there will be back-to-back races in the FIA Formula E Championship, with the Paris ePrix coming this Saturday, 20 May, just seven days after a thrilling showdown in Monaco.

The race on the famous city streets on the Côte d’Azur was in many ways analogous to the story of the title fight so far in this third season of Formula E. Renault e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi was in control throughout practice and qualifying, setting the fastest times across the board and ensuring he would be on pole once again in Monaco, having achieved the same feat the first time the championship visited two years before.

In the race a thrilling battle developed between Buemi and the ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport driver Lucas di Grassi who is his closest rival in the chase for championship honours. Buemi had pulled a strong gap in the opening stint, but as the race entered its final phase di Grassi closed right in on the reigning champion.

With Buemi managing to keep just enough of a gap, he extended his points lead coming into the Paris event to 15 points. Behind the two front-runners, Nico Prost who sits third in the standings scored just two points in Monaco, however his two closest chasers – Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird, who are fourth and fifth respectively – did not finish, meaning that the points gaps remained stable.

Mahindra Racing had a strong showing in Monaco, with Nick Heidfeld making a return to the podium in third, while Felix Rosenqvist bounced back from a crash in practice to cross the line in sixth. Heidfeld has jumped up the order as a result of his rostrum finish, he’s now just ahead of his team-mate in sixth.

Venturi’s Maro Engel enjoyed his best ePrix to date in Monaco. Having failed to finish a race since the opening round of the season in Hong Kong, the German driver enjoyed an impressive return to form at his team’s home race. He secured the second best time overall in the qualifying group stages, progressing to SuperPole for the second event in succession. He held on to his fifth-placed grid slot for the duration of the contest, bringing himself and Venturi ten points and closing the gap back up to Jaguar in the standings.

Engel is, however, one of two drivers who will be substituted in Paris, the other being Loic Duval for Faraday Future Dragon Racing. They will be replaced by Tom Dillman and Mike Conway respectively.

So close to the headquarters of the FIA, the Paris ePrix is a special race for the Federation, and there will plenty going on away from the track action. In particular, there will be a special FIA Smart Cities session featuring FIA President Jean Todt and the Mayor of Paris, Anne Hidalgo. The concept of Smart Cities has become one of the most rapidly growing frameworks applied in all sectors of urban development, including transport and mobility systems, and this talk will focus on the critical area of road safety in urban environments.

Paris is not only home to the FIA, but marks a home race for championship leaders Renault e.dams, while DS Virgin Racing can claim it as a home race thanks to French DS brand. No fewer than four drivers – Prost, Vergne, Dillman and Stephane Sarrazin will undoubtedly be spurred on by their home supporters on Saturday.

Event Timetable

SATURDAY, MAY 20

08:00 – 08:45: PRACTICE 1

10:00: Qualifying group lottery, Podium / Allianz eVillage

10:30 – 11:00: PRACTICE 2

12:00 – 12:06: QUALIFYING GROUP 1
12:10 – 12:16: QUALIFYING GROUP 2
12:20 – 12:26: QUALIFYING GROUP 3
12:30 – 12:36: QUALIFYING GROUP 4
12:45 – 13:00: SUPER POLE

13:45 – 14:00: eRace, Gaming Zone / Allianz eVillage

14:00 – 14:30: Autograph session, Gaming Zone / Allianz eVillage

15:00 – 15:10: Driver parade

16:00: Paris ePRIX (51 laps)

17:05: Podium ceremony, Podium

Championship standings

	Drivers’ Championship		Teams’ Championship
	Driver	Points	Team	Points
1	Sebastien Buemi	104	Renault e.dams	152
2	Lucas di Grassi	89	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport	115
3	Nicolas Prost	48	Mahindra Racing	60
4	Jean-Eric Vergne	40	Techeetah	45
5	Sam Bird	34	DS Virgin Racing	44
6	Nick Heidfeld	32	NEXTEV NIO	42
7	Felix Rosenqvist	28	Faraday Future Dragon Racing	19
8	Nelson Piquet Jr.	27	Andretti Formula E	18
9	Daniel Abt	26	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	17
10	Oliver Turvey	15	Venturi Formula E	13

Entry List

N°	TEAM	CAR	DRIVER
2	DS Virgin Racing (GBR)	DS Virgin DSV-02	Sam Bird (GBR)
3	NEXTEV NIO (GBR)	NextEV TCR Formula 002	Nelson Piquet Jr. (BRA)
4	Venturi Formula E Team (MCO)	Venturi VM200-FE-02	Stéphane Sarrazin (FRA)
5	Venturi Formula E Team (MCO)	Venturi VM200-FE-02	Tom Dillmann (FRA)
6	Faraday Future Dragon Racing (USA)	Penske 701-EV	Mike Conway (GBR)
7	Faraday Future Dragon Racing (USA)	Penske 701-EV	Jérôme d’Ambrosio (BEL)
8	Renault e.dams (FRA)	Renault Z.E. 16	Nicolas Prost (FRA)
9	Renault e.dams (FRA)	Renault Z.E. 16	Sébastien Buemi (CHE)
11	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport (DEU)	ABT Schaeffler FE02	Lucas di Grassi (BRA)
19	Mahindra Racing (IND)	Mahindra M3Electro	Felix Rosenqvist (SWE)
20	Panasonic Jaguar Racing (GBR)	Jaguar I-Type 1	Mitch Evans (NZL)
23	Mahindra Racing (IND)	Mahindra M3Electro	Nick Heidfeld (DEU)
25	TECHEETAH (CHN)	Renault Z.E. 16	Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA)
27	Andretti Formula E (USA)	Andretti ATEC-02	Robin Frijns (NED)
28	Andretti Formula E (USA)	Andretti ATEC-02	Antonio Felix da Costa (PRT)
33	TECHEETAH (CHN)	Renault Z.E. 16	Esteban Gutierrez (MEX)
37	DS Virgin Racing (GBR)	DS Virgin DSV-02	José Maria Lopez (ARG)
47	Panasonic Jaguar Racing (GBR)	Jaguar I-Type 1	Adam Carroll (GBR)
66	ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport (DEU)	ABT Schaeffler FE02	Daniel Abt (DEU)
88	NEXTEV NIO (GBR)	NextEV TCR Formula 002	Oliver Turvey (GBR).