The 2019 Sanya ePrix (formally the 2019 FWD Sanya E-Prix) was a Formula E electric motor race held in Sanya on the Chinese island of Hainan on 23 March 2019. It was the 6th race of the 2018–19 Formula E season, and the first ePrix to be held in mainland China since the 2015 Beijing ePrix, and the first and only Sanya ePrix.

2019 Sanya ePrix
Race 6 of 13 of the 2018–19 Formula E season
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Race details
Date 23 March 2019
Official name 2019 FWD Sanya E-Prix
Location Haitang Bay Circuit, Sanya
Course Street circuit
Course length 2.236 km (1.389 miles)
Weather Cloudy
Pole position
Driver e.Dams-Nissan
Time 1:07.945
Fastest lap
Driver France Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS
Time 1:09.965 on lap 35
Podium
First Techeetah-DS
Second e.Dams-Nissan
Third Andretti-BMW
Lap leaders

Report

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Background

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The Sanya ePrix was announced as part of the 2018–19 calendar in June 2018 by Formula E founder, Alejandro Agag,[1] and was confirmed as season 5's 6th race on 10 January 2019.[2] It was the first time since 2015 an ePrix was held on mainland China, the first time an ePrix was held in Sanya and was run on the Haitang Bay Circuit.

Going into the race, Sam Bird led the championship with 54 points and a point over Jérôme d'Ambrosio and 2 points over Lucas di Grassi and Edoardo Mortara, who were tied on 52 points after Mortara's win in the previous round in Hong Kong.[3] In the teams championship, Virgin Racing led with 97 points, Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler in second place with 86 points, after jumping ahead of Mahindra, by scoring a double points finish and Mahindra's double retirement in the previous round.[3]

Practice

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Two practice sessions—both on Saturday morning—were held before the late afternoon race. The first session ran for 45 minutes and the second for half an hour.[4] During the session, Oliver Rowland led the way during the first Practice session after setting a time of 1:07.561, ahead of both BMW Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa and his teammate Alexander Sims.[5] During the session, several drivers ran deep into the run-off area at turn 5. The notable incidents happened when Virgin Racing driver Robin Frijns rubbing the wall multiple times during the session.[6]

The second practice session was underway an hour and a half later. The Nissan e.Dams driver Sébastien Buemi hit the wall at turn 3.[7] Despite the incident, he rejoined and set the fastest of the second practice with 1:07.288, ahead of Da Costa in second, and his teammate, Rowland in third.[8][9] During the session, Mahindra driver Pascal Wehrlein, and HWA driver Gary Paffett hit the wall at the exit of turn 6. Both drivers returned to the pits afterwards to fix the damage to their cars for the rest of the second practice.

Qualifying

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Saturday's 75-minute afternoon qualifying session was divided into two groups of five cars and two groups of six entries. Each group was determined by a lottery system and was permitted six minutes of on-track activity. All drivers were limited to two timed laps with one at maximum power. The fastest six overall competitors in the four groups participated in a "super pole" session with one driver on the track at any time going out in reverse order from fifth to first. Each of the five drivers was limited to one timed lap and the starting order was determined by the competitors' fastest times (super pole from first to fifth, and group qualifying from sixth to twentieth). The driver and team who recorded the fastest time were awarded three points towards their respective championships.[4]

In group one, BMW Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa was fastest, ahead of d'Ambrosio, and Di Grassi. The championship leader, Sam Bird, would start from 16th in the overall qualifying session. ABT was fastest in group two, with Lotterer behind, but only 7th overall.[10] In the third group, Buemi set the fastest lap, ahead of BMW Andretti driver Alexander Sims, and his teammate, Oliver Rowland. Vergne and Massa were fourth and fifth ahead of the NIO driver of Oliver Turvey in sixth. In group four, Stoffel Vandoorne in the HWA Racelab set the fastest lap of the group four qualifying, with the Dragon driver José María López came in second, and NIO driver Tom Dillmann in third. In the super pole session, Rowland took his first pole position of the season with a time of 1:07.945, after his teammate Buemi hit the wall again in turn 3.[11][12][10] He would start in the front row alongside the DS Techeetah driver Jean-Éric Vergne, who was second. Alexander Sims didn't set his super pole time because a gear selection issue on his car.[11]

Post-qualifying

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After qualifying, Sébastien Buemi was disqualified from the Super Pole session for brake infringement, dropping him to sixth, before he had to start from the pit lane after replacing a part of his car. The HWA Racelab driver Gary Paffett also started from the pit lane after fixing an issue of his car.

Race

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At the start, everyone get off the line well except for Nasr because his Dragon failed to get off the line, he later move the car again before retiring. Soon after, Vandoorne and Bird collided, resulting in both drivers retiring, Jose Maria Lopez also retired and parked in the run-off area to maintain the race. When attack mode was activated, Massa, Turvey and Buemi went to the first attack, Lucas Di Grassi also used it but he tried three times before the mode activated.[clarify]. When 21 minutes and 59 seconds was left on the clock, Vergne went for the overtake on Rowland and moved into the lead. From there, he built a 1-second gap from Rowland to activate attack mode. Then Sims and Lotterer went side-by-side and Sims contacted the wall, ending his race and causing the full course yellow and then a red flag. When the race resumed after 12 minutes, every driver except for Mortara, da Costa Turvey, Dillmann did not activate the second attack mode. During the penultimate lap, Buemi shoved Frijns to di Grassi, which resulted in his retirement and a full-course yellow. This caused everyone to slow down, which allowed Vergne to win the race.

Post-race

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After the race, Buemi been awarded a 10 seconds penalty for causing a collision. Mortara was awarded a drive-through penalty converted to 16 seconds after he failed to activate the attack mode for a second time. The penalty promoted Massa to tenth.

Classification

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Qualifying

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Pos. No. Driver Team Time Gap Grid
1 22   Oliver Rowland e.Dams-Nissan 1:07.945 - 1
2 25   Jean Eric Vergne Techeetah-DS 1:08.045 +0.100 2
3 28   Antonio Felix da Costa Andretti-BMW 1:08.122 +0.177 3
4 66   Daniel Abt Audi 1:08.331 +0.386 4
5 27   Alexander Sims Andretti-BMW no time no time 5
6 23   Sébastien Buemi e.Dams-Nissan 1:07.670 - PL1
7 36   André Lotterer Techeetah-DS 1:08.371 +0.701 7
8 64   Jérôme d'Ambrosio Mahindra 1:08.372 +0.702 8
9 94   Pascal Wehrlein Mahindra 1:08.455 +0.785 9
10 11   Lucas Di Grassi Audi 1:08.468 +0.798 10
11 48   Edoardo Mortara Venturi 1:08.504 +0.834 11
12 4   Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 1:08.546 +0.876 12
13 5   Stoffel Vandoorne HWA-Venturi 1:08.560 +0.890 13
14 7   José María López Dragon-Penske 1:08.568 +0.898 14
15 19   Felipe Massa Venturi 1:08.585 +0.915 15
16 2   Sam Bird Virgin-Audi 1:08.641 +0.971 16
17 8   Tom Dillmann NIO 1:08.800 +1.130 17
18 6   Felipe Nasr Dragon-Penske 1:08.823 +1.153 18
19 16   Oliver Turvey NIO 1:08.923 +1.253 19
20 20   Mitch Evans Jaguar 1:08.955 +1.285 20
21 17   Gary Paffett HWA-Venturi 1:09.072 +1.402 PL2
22 3   Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar 1:09.399 +1.729 22
Source: [12]
Notes
  • ^1  — Sébastien Buemi was disqualified from the Super Pole session for brake infringement.
  • ^2  — Gary Paffett started from the pit lane after replacing a mechanical part of his car.

Race

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Pos. No. Driver Team Laps Time/Retired Grid Points
1 25   Jean-Éric Vergne Techeetah-DS 36 1:02:50.185 2 25+15
2 22   Oliver Rowland e.Dams-Nissan 36 +1.762 1 18+36
3 28   António Félix da Costa Andretti-BMW 36 +3.268 3 15
4 36   André Lotterer Techeetah-DS 36 +4.631 7 12
5 66   Daniel Abt Audi 36 +5.972 4 10
6 64   Jérôme d'Ambrosio Mahindra 36 +17.340 8 8
7 94   Pascal Wehrlein Mahindra 36 +18.367 9 6
8 23   Sébastien Buemi e.Dams-Nissan 36 +19.4053 PL 4
9 20   Mitch Evans Jaguar 36 +20.646 20 2
10 19   Felipe Massa Venturi 36 +27.739 15 1
11 16   Oliver Turvey NIO 36 +31.453 19 0
12 8   Tom Dillmann NIO 36 +32.654 17 0
13 48   Edoardo Mortara Venturi 36 +38.2084 11 0
Ret 4   Robin Frijns Virgin-Audi 35 Collision damage 12 0
Ret 11   Lucas Di Grassi Audi 34 Collision 10 0
Ret 3   Nelson Piquet Jr. Jaguar 21 Accident 22 0
Ret 27   Alexander Sims Andretti-BMW 20 Accident 5 0
Ret 17   Gary Paffett HWA-Venturi 13 Driveshaft PL 0
Ret 7   José María López Dragon-Penske 10 Powertrain 14 0
Ret 5   Stoffel Vandoorne HWA-Venturi 1 Collision 13 0
Ret 2   Sam Bird Virgin-Audi 1 Collision 16 0
Ret 6   Felipe Nasr Dragon-Penske 1 Technical 18 0
Source: [13]
Notes
  • ^3  — Sébastien Buemi received 10-second time penalty for causing a collision.
  • ^4  — Edoardo Mortara received a drive through penalty converted into a 16-second time penalty for not activating the second attack mode usage.
  • ^5  — Fastest lap.
  • ^6  — Pole position.

Standings after the race

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References

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  1. ^ "Sanya joins season five Formula E calendar". motorsport.com. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  2. ^ "Formula e 2018/2019 season: Calendar, teams and drivers".
  3. ^ a b "Standings – 2018-2019 FIA Formula E Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Retrieved 21 March 2019.
  4. ^ a b "Rules and Regulations". FIA Formula E. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Rowland storms Practice 1 in Sanya, trouble for Techeetah". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  6. ^ "Sanya FE: Nissan's Sebastien Buemi tops practice after late crash". Autosport. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  7. ^ "Sanya E-Prix: Buemi sets practice pace for Nissan". motorsport.com. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  8. ^ "Buemi sets the pace in Sanya ahead of Qualifying". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  9. ^ "Buemi Rebounds to Go Quickest in FP2". e-racing 365. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  10. ^ a b "Rowland snatches maiden Pole in Sanya showdown". FIA Formula E. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  11. ^ a b "Rowland Takes Pole; Buemi Crashes in Sanya Qualifying". e-racing 365. Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  12. ^ a b "R06 Qualifying" (PDF). Retrieved 24 March 2019.
  13. ^ "R06 Race Results" (PDF).
  14. ^ a b "Standings – 2018-2019 FIA Formula E Championship". Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile. Archived from the original on 7 June 2020. Retrieved 23 March 2019.
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2019 Hong Kong ePrix
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2018–19 season
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