BMW factory racer António Félix da Costa in the #28 MS&AD Andretti ATEC-003 finished sixth in the first race of the all-electric Formula E Series Season Four on the streets of Hong Kong. He finished eleventh in the second race after a long stop to change cars took him out of contention.  WEC and ex-Formula 1 racer Kamui Kobayashi, who was driving the Andretti team’s second car in Hong Kong, finished out of the points in both races.

    Félix da Costa, who started eighth in race one, was running far enough up in the pack to avoid a multi-car incident that brought out a red flag early in the race. He held on to his position after the restart, pitted late to change cars, and moved up to seventh. He finished there, but the post-race disqualification of another racer moved him up to sixth. Kobayashi finished fifteenth. Sam Bird, driving for DS Virgin Racing, took the win.

    Félix da Costa started from the sixth position in race two, moved up to fifth, and then made it into fourth with an impressive pass on DS Virgin’s Alex Lynn. A problem launching the second car on the pit stop took Félix da Costa out of contention; he finished twelfth on the track, but was promoted to eleventh later when the winner, Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler’s Daniel Abt, was disqualified post-race. Post-race inspection of Abt’s car revealed that bar codes on the inverters and motors were different from those listed in the pre-race technical passport. The Audi Sport team, claiming that the issue was an administrative error rather than a parts swap, initially planned to appeal the decision. But on the day after the race they announced that they had elected not to appeal. The disqualification made Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist the winner. Rosenqvist had started from the pole position, spun in the first turn, and recovered to finish second on the circuit. Kobayashi was classified seventeenth at the end.

    Kobayashi’s ride was a one-event deal; the Andretti team selected him even though BMW’s Tom Blomqvist was originally listed as the team’s second driver for the season (see the story here).

    Félix da Costa is on board for the season; the second driver for the series’ next race in Marrakesh on January 13 has not yet been named. Fox Sports 1 will provide live coverage of the Marrakesh race.

    More information on the series appears on the series website, and comprehensive coverage of series news appears on e-racing365.com.—Brian S. Morgan