Robin Frijns, driving the #27 Amlin Andretti ATEC-002, finished sixth in a Formula E race run on a street circuit around the historic Les Invalides complex in Paris. His teammate, António Félix da Costa, left the race after colliding with another car.
Frijns qualified eighth on the grid but started seventh as another racer was penalized after qualifying. He held onto seventh until his pit stop to change cars. Félix da Costa, who had started seventeenth, moved up to sixteenth in a battle with Abt’s Lucas di Grassi. The two racers came together while battling for position—di Grassi was able to continue while Félix da Costa was not.
The collision between the two racers brought out a full course yellow just 20 laps into the 49-lap race that brought many competitors in for an early pit stop/car change (racers in the all-electric series change cars on their stops). Frijns made a pass to move up a position after his stop, and gained another spot when second-place runner Jean-Eric Vergne in a Renault hit the wall and brought out the safety car. While Frijns finished fifth on the track he was penalized five seconds for speeding during a caution period; the penalty dropped him to sixth in the final standings.
Renault e.dam racer Sebastien Buemi won the race; it was his fifth win in six races so far this season. The win extended Buemi's points lead over his closest rival di Grassi, who was set back in the incident with Félix da Costa and then crashed out just before the end of the race as he was trying to score a point for running the fastest lap. His incident brought out a full-course yellow with just two laps remaining; the race finished under the caution flag.
There are six races remaining in the season; all will be run as parts of double-headers. The first double-header will be run in Berlin on June 10-11, the next will be run on the streets of Brooklyn, NY on July 15-16, and the season finale will be run on a street circuit in Montreal on July 29-30.
BMW, which partners with the Amlin Andretti team, also provides official cars for the series, including the i8 safety car, i3 medical and race director cars, and the X5 xDrive40e rescue/extrication car. More information on the series is available on the series website. –Brian S. Morgan
