Video: ABB FIA FE curtain raiser has Kiwi drivers eighth and ninth
Mitch Evans finished eighth for Jaguar TCS Racing at Mexico City in the ABB FIA Formula E season nine opener with fellow Kiwi Nick Cassidy ninth for Envision Racing in the new “Gen3” race cars.
Both are hoping to do better in the next event at Diriyah in Saudi Arabia on January 27 and 28.
Evans couldn’t pull off his earlier victory in Mexico, and stablemate Sam Bird’s run of misfortune continued as driveshaft failure forced him out of contention early on and prompted the second safety car interruption.
Defending ABB FIA Formula E champion Stoffel Vandoorne was 10th for DS Penske.
The Mexco winner was Jake Dennis for Avalanche Andretti in his fast Porsche, getting ahead of early leader and pole sitter Lucas Di Grassi (Mahindra Racing) who finished third.
By the time the chequered flag fell – with five laps added to the original 36-lap distance to compensate for safety car periods – Dennis was nearly eight seconds clear of his nearest pursuer.
Last year’s Mexico City winner Pascal Wehrlein finished runner-up for TAG Heuer Porsche after starting sixth on the grid.
ABB is the official EV charger for season nine.
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