Reigning champion Vergne of DS TECHEETAH managed to win his third race in the 2018/2019 ABB FIA Formula E Championship. Starting from pole position, he held off the advances of Mitch Evans and extended his lead at the top of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship standings to 32-points over Lucas di Grassi - building a buffer before heading to New York.

Vergne led from lights-to-flag, but was hurried and hassled by Evans all the way to the chequered flag. The Panasonic Jaguar Racing pilot put pressure on Vergne, looming large in his mirrors, but was unable to pass with the Frenchman making his car as wide as possible.

Despite trying to take the initiative and activating ATTACK MODE earlier than expected, Vergne mirrored every move Evans made and hung on to victory with an assured and astute drive. Not even light rain in the latter stages could impact Vergne’s performance.

Sebastien Buemi brought his Nissan e.dams car home in third to round-out the podium places and receive the adulation of the Swiss fans. Buemi beat Andre Lotterer at the line, but Lotterer later dropped down the order after being handed a post-race time penalty for ignoring the red pit exit light. With Lotterer’s penalty applied, Sam Bird was promoted to fourth - making the most of his good fortune after suffering a puncture in the skirmish at the start, that eventually led to the race coming to a stop.

The race was temporarily suspended following a coming together at the first chicane, with Pascal Wehrlein and Maximilian Günther blocking the path of the majority of the pack - allowing Bird to return to the pits and change tyre.

Although he got caught-up in the first-corner collision, Günther gathered his composure and carried his car to a career-best fifth position. Daniel Abt was a place further back in sixth, ahead of Alex Lynn in seventh and Felipe Massa in eighth.

Lucas di Grassi leapt through the field to ninth after a lacklustre qualifying left him in a lowly grid slot. The final points-paying position was filled by Stoffel Vandoorne, who also vaulted up the order from 15th to 10th.

With the last race of the European leg coming to a close, Formula E heads across the Atlantic to New York City for round twelve and thirteen on 13 and 14 July – the season finale of the 2018/2019 ABB FIA Formula E Championship.

Quotes:

Jean-Eric Vergne, DS TECHEETAH:

“I arrived here like a zombie after Le Mans but nevertheless, I think the team helped me massively to do a good job. They gave me a fantastic car, especially in qualifying. At the end of the race I was definitely slower than Mitch - he was really on it! I wasn’t that fast, but I wasn’t taking any massive risks either, particularly in the last laps when the rain came. I couldn’t believe it… my engineers were telling me rain was coming and I could see the drops on my visor. Nothing is comfortable in Formula E and everything can change so quickly. It’s a good lead - it’s a bigger lead than the one I had last year - but I’m not thinking about it too much. I’ll arrive in New York with the same wish to win the race and do the job. Simple as that.”

Mitch Evens, Panasonic Jaguar Racing:

“It was actually harder than I expected. I was hoping it was going to be a bit of a slam dunk when I was on ATTACK MODE, but it didn’t really materialise. I was so close and I got a good overlap but it would’ve been quite risky to hang around the outside at Turn 3, or other places and he was defending well. JEV is a truly good defender and it would’ve meant taking a big risk to try and get by. I felt extremely fast today and I want to thank everyone in the team for handing me a great car and it feels great to be on the podium. But ultimately, I felt like I had the pace to win.”

Sebastien Buemi, Nissan e.dams:

“I think it was an amazing day for me, even if it’s only third place. It feels like a win - it was amazing to have my family here. I was told we had three per cent more energy but there isn’t much you can do here, it’s very difficult to overtake so you can’t take lots of risks and cause a crash. I decided to secure third place today and qualifying was the determining factor. In Berlin it was really easy to overtake. There it would have been a completely different outcome. However, here it is what it is, and we need to live with it. In New York it’s usually simpler to overtake… so it should make for a good final couple of races.”

2019 Swiss E-Prix (Rd 11)

1 Jean-Eric Vergne DS TECHEETAH 1:25:26.873s

2 Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing +0.160s

3 Sebastien Buemi Nissan e.dams +0.720s

4 Sam Bird Envision Virgin Racing +2.996s

5 Maximilian Gunther GEOX DRAGON +4.625s

6 Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler +6.930s

7 Alex Lynn Panasonic Jaguar Racing +9.972s

8 Felipe Massa VENTURI Formula E Team +12.310s

9 Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler +13.073s

10 Stoffel Vandoorne HWA RACELAB +13.386s

11 Alexander Sims BMW i Andretti Motorsport +14.714s

12 Antonio Felix da Costa BMW i Andretti Motorsport +18.917s

13 Jerome D’Ambrosio MAHINDRA RACING +21.872s

14 Andre Lotterer DS TECHEETAH +23.106s

15 Tom Dillmann NIO Formula E Team +40.084s

16 Oliver Turvey NIO Formula E Team +46.622s

17 Gary Paffett HWA RACELAB +1:22.512s

DNF Oliver Rowland Nissan e.dams 21 Laps

DNF Pascal Wehrlein MAHINDRA RACING 11 Laps

DNF Edoardo Mortara VENTURI Formula E Team 5 Laps

DNF Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing

DSQ Jose Maria Lopez GEOX DRAGON

Driver standings

Jean-Eric Vergne DS TECHEETAH 130

Lucas di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 98

Mitch Evans Panasonic Jaguar Racing 87

Andre Lotterer DS TECHEETAH 86

Antonio Felix da Costa BMW i Andretti Motorsport 82

Robin Frijns Envision Virgin Racing 81

Sebastien Buemi Nissan e.dams 76

Daniel Abt Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 75

Sam Bird Envision Virgin Racing 69

Jerome D’Ambrosio MAHINDRA RACING 65

Oliver Rowland Nissan e.dams 63

Edoardo Mortara VENTURI Formula E Team 52

Pascal Wehrlein MAHINDRA RACING 52

Felipe Massa VENTURI Formula E Team 36

Stoffel Vandoorne HWA RACELAB 31

Alexander Sims BMW i Andretti Motorsport 24

Maximilian Gunther GEOX DRAGON 20

Alex Lynn Panasonic Jaguar Racing 10

Gary Paffett HWA RACELAB 8

Oliver Turvey NIO Formula E Team 6

Jose Maria Lopez GEOX DRAGON 3

Nelson Piquet Jr. Panasonic Jaguar Racing 1

Tom Dillmann NIO Formula E Team 0

Felipe Nasr GEOX DRAGON 0

Felix Rosenqvist MAHINDRA RACING 0

Team standings

DS TECHEETAH 216

Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler 173

Envision Virgin Racing 150

Nissan e.dams 139

MAHINDRA RACING 117

BMW i Andretti Motorsport 106

Panasonic Jaguar Racing 98

VENTURI Formula E Team 88

HWA RACELAB 39

GEOX DRAGON 23

NIO Formula E Team 6