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Formula E - 2015 Putrajaya ePrix - Preview

03.11.15
Two weeks on from the opening round of the second FIA Formula E Championship in Beijing, the ten teams taking part are back in action, tackling the streets of Putrajaya, the administrative centre of the Federal Republic of Malaysia
Putrajaya ePrix 2015  - Preview

Following the well established format for this series, the entire event takes place over a single day, on Saturday 7 November. However, as was the case a year ago, the timetable for track activity is slightly different, with just a single free practice session and the race brought forward to 14h00, so as to reduce the risk of particularly bad weather affecting the programme.

Sebastien Buemi emerged victorious in the Beijing ePrix, and he became the first driver in this series to achieve the grand slam of taking the race win, pole and race fastest lap, bringing him a total of 30 points. Driving for the Renault e.Dams team, the Swiss driver dominated the Beijing race and arrives in Putrajaya as the odds on favourite. The others will be out to stop him taking back to back wins, starting with his team-mate Nicolas Prost, who retired in China with a rear wing problem, while in the fight for a podium finish. Lucas di Grassi (ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport) and Nick Heidfeld (Mahindra Racing,) respectively second and third in Beijing, have got off to a great start, as did the Dragon Racing duo of Loic Duval and Jerome D’Ambrosio, who finished just off the podium in that order. Two of the three rookies also had an encouraging time in China; Nathaniel Berthon (Team Aguri) and Robin Frijns (Andretti) finishing in the points on their debut. They fared better than their illustrious colleague, the 1995 Indy Car champion and the 1997 Formula 1 champion, Jacques Villeneuve, who was down in 14th place at the end of a tough race.

Last year, English Sam Bird (Virgin Racing,) won in Putrajaya in dominant style, taking the chequered flag with a lead of over 4 seconds on Di Grassi and 5 on Buemi. In the second edition of this ePrix, the drivers will have to do 33 laps of the 2.560 kilometre track, two more than in the first race here: it’s one more variable for the teams to contend with as they try and find the best balance between performance and energy consumption, which is the key to success in this the first ever championship for single-seaters powered entirely by electricity.

 

The 2014/15 results

 

Race

 

P.

Driver

Team

Laps

Time

1

Sam Bird

Virgin Racing

31

51:11.979

2

Lucas di Grassi

Audi Sport ABT

31

+ 4.175

3

Sébastien Buemi

e.dams Renault

31

+ 5.739

4

Nicolas Prost

e.dams Renault

31

+ 9.552

5

Jerome D’Ambrosio

Dragon Racing

31

+ 13.722

6

Karun Chandhok

Mahindra Racing

31

+ 17.158

7

Oriol Servia

Dragon Racing

31

+ 18.621

8

Antonio Felix da Costa

Amlin Aguri

31

+ 19.926

9

Jaime Alguersuari

Virgin Racing

31

+ 20.053

10

Daniel Abt

Audi Sport ABT

31

+ 45.663

 

Pole Position: Nicolas Prost (e.dams Renault), 1:21.779

Fastest Lap: Jaime Alguersuari (Virgin Racing), 1:24.429 

Season 2015/16

 

 

Drivers’ Championship

Teams’ Championship

Driver

Points

Team

Points

1

Sébastien Buemi

30

Renault e.Dams

30

2

Lucas di Grassi

18

Dragon Racing

22

3

Nick Heidfeld

15

ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport

18

4

Loïc Duval

12

Mahindra Racing

15

5

Jerome D’Ambrosio

10

NEXTEV TCR

8

6

Oliver Turvey

8

DS Virgin Racing

6

7

Sam Bird

6

Team Aguri

4

8

Nathanaël Berthon

4

Venturi

2

9

Stéphane Sarrazin

2

Andretti

1

10

Robin Frijns

1

 

 

Putrajaya ePrix 2015/16

 

Date: 7 November

Venue: Putrajaya

Track length: 2,560 km

Start/finish line offset: 100 m

Number of laps: 33

Total length: 84,48 km

 

Timetable

 

Start

Finish

Session

7.45

9.00

Non qualifying practice

10.00

10.06

Qualifying Group 1

10.10

10.16

Qualifying Group 2

10.20

10.26

Qualifying Group 3

10.30

10.36

Qualifying Group 4

10.45

11.00

Super Pole

14.04

 

Race

Circuit Map

Putrajaya ePrix 2015  - Preview