MS Amlin Andretti racer Robin Frijns finished eleventh—just outside the points-paying positions—in the Mexico City Formula E race. His teammate, António Félix da Costa, exited the race after a technical problem led him to stop on track.
Frijns received a stop-and-go penalty for a pit stop that was three seconds short of the required minimum time; the penalty took him out of contention for points. Felix da Costa ran as high as sixth before parking his ATEC-002.
Lucas di Grassi won the race in an Abt Schaeffler Audi Sport car. He pitted early to repair a broken rear wing, but recovered by pitting early during the first of three safety car periods. Sebastien Buemi, who had won the first three races of the season in an eDams Renault, spun and fell back to what became a thirteenth place finishing position.
Frijns said, “The race went pretty well. We started P17, and I felt quite comfortable. I was behind Antonio after a few laps, because he made a mistake. I felt like I was quicker than the cars in front of me, but it is hard to overtake on the front stretch. It’s unfortunate the team made a mistake in the pit stop; we went three seconds quicker than was allowed so we got a drive-through penalty. Without the penalty we could have finished in the top five, so it was definitely a disappointment.”
BMW partners with the Amlin Andretti team and supplies i8, i3, and X5 xDrive40e support vehicles to the all-electric car series. BMW has recently announced an extended commitment to the series that includes development of a powertrain and potentially fielding a works team.
The series runs next in Monaco on May 13.—Brian S. Morgan
