Mexico City sees DS Virgin Racing mope up to 3rd position 02.04.2017: ....in the Championship Race • Eventful Mexico ePrix results in podium finish for Sam

....in the Championship Race


•    Eventful Mexico ePrix results in podium finish for Sam Bird and P6 for Jose Maria Lopez


•    DS Virgin Racing proves the pace of the DSV-02 after Jose Maria Lopez led the way for several laps before a spin after trying to overtake D’Ambrosio


•    Due to the positive result in Mexico City, the team move into Monaco with increased confidence




A tense and dramatic race at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, saw DS Virgin Racing move up to 3rd position in the championship, after a podium finish for Sam Bird and 6th position for Jose Maria Lopez. This result is very encouraging for the team and proves the pace that the DSV-02 is capable of.



The day wasn’t without its ups and downs, as disappointing practice sessions left the team struggling for grip moving into qualifying. However, set up changes and great performances from both drivers meant Jose Maria Lopez started in 2nd position on the grid and Sam Bird in 5th.



A chaotic start to the Mexico City ePrix saw an early crash on lap 2 which resulted in Prost, Sarrazin and Di Grassi in the pits for nose and wing repairs.  Both DS Virgin Racing drivers managed to avoid the chaos and maintained their positions at P2 and P5 with a safety car for the next 2 laps.



Jose Maria Lopez was able to pass a slowing Oliver Turvey and took the lead before the safety car was deployed to move his striken car off the track.  The Argentinian driver was looking strong and was pulling away from the field for several laps.



An early car change from Di Grassi and D’Ambrosio during the safety car period meant that following all pit stops Lopez and the chasing pack were leapfrogged, but Jose Maria Lopez had more than 20% more energy than both drivers ahead of him.



Sam Bird was also looking strong in 5th place and it looked as though a 1 and 2 finish could have been possible as D’Ambrosio was struggling for energy in 2nd place.  After fighting with D’Ambrosio for a number of laps, Lopez tried to overtake on the outside of turn one, but lost the rear of the car in the dust causing him to spin off track losing a number of places.



A drawn out battle with Sam and Vergne saw their cars coming very close at times.  With D’Ambrosio losing more energy, Sam moved into 3rd position on lap 44 with an excellent pass on the outside of turn 2 securing his podium finish. Shortly after, a collision in the stadium section involving multiple cars meant that Lopez finished the race in 6th place.



Sam Bird “The team did an amazing job, we struggled in FP1 and FP2 so finishing in 3rd and 6th place is a great result”.



Lopez commented “The team gave me an excellent car today.  Throughout the first half of the race I was faster than those behind me and didn’t have a problem keeping the gap. For the first time this season I knew I had the pace to win. 



I felt I needed to overtake D’Ambrosio at that time but maybe it was the wrong place .  This will take some time to pass but the positive is we proved as a team today with Sam, we have the pace to win races”.



Team Principal Alex Tai stated “I’m delighted with the performance of the team today, despite the fact that a 1st and 2nd didn’t materialise. 



Challenging engineering and strategy decisions were correctly judged and both drivers showed their ability throughout the day.  We can move forward to Monaco with a deserved increase in confidence”.


Xavier Mestelan Pinon, DS Performance Director commented “We’ve made encouraging progress in team championship.  The first half of Jose Maria Lopez’s race showed our car has good performance and pace in it.



Despite the mistake in the second half of the race, we can see that the DSV-02 is able to increase the gap between other teams while consuming less energy.”




FIA Formula E – Mexico City ePrix – Provisional Results


1 Lucas DI GRASSI
2 Jean-Eric VERGNE
3 Sam BIRD
4 Mitch EVANS
5 Nicolas PROST
6 José María LOPEZ
7 Daniel ABT
8 Adam CARROLL
9 Nelson PIQUET JR
10 Esteban GUTIERREZ
11 Sébastien BUEMI
12 Felix ROSENQVIST
13 Nick HEIDFELD
14 Oliver TURVEY
15 Antonio FELIX DA COSTA
16 Jérôme D'AMBROSIO
17 Loic DUVAL
18 Robin FRIJNS
19 Maro ENGEL
20 Stéphane SARRAZIN



FIA Formula E Championship – Provisional Drivers Standings


1 Sébastien BUEMI 76
2 Lucas DI GRASSI 71
3 Nicolas PROST 46
4 Jean-Eric VERGNE 40
5 Sam BIRD 33
6 Daniel ABT 20
7 Felix ROSENQVIST 20
8 Nick HEIDFELD 17
9 Nelson PIQUET JR 15
10 Oliver TURVEY 15
11 Mitch EVANS 12
12 José María LOPEZ 10
13 Antonio FELIX DA COSTA 10
14 Jérôme D'AMBROSIO 10
15 Loic DUVAL 9
16 Robin FRIJNS 8
17 Adam CARROLL 4
18 Maro ENGEL 2
19 Esteban GUTIERREZ 1
20 Stéphane SARRAZIN 1
21 Qing Hua MA 0




FIA Formula E Championship – Provisional Teams Standings

1 Renault e.dams 122
2 ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport 91
3 DS Virgin Racing 43
4 TECHEETAH 41
5 Mahindra Racing 37
6 NEXTEV NIO 30 
7 Andretti Formula E 18
8 Panasonic Jaguar Racing 16
9 Faraday Future Dragon Racing 7    
10 Venturi Formula E Team 3





Adrien da Cunha Belvès, Lucy Rillstone  photo FIA Formula E