Bird Wins In New York To Go Top Of Championship

Calum Gill 19:34 11/07/2021

Sam Bird has won the second race in the New York City E-Prix double header, and will subsequently lead the standings heading into his home round in London.

The Jaguar driver led every lap from the pole to take his second win of the season, and second win for Jaguar. Bird’s team-mate Mitch Evans was on course to complete a 1-2 for Jaguar until he suddenly slid wide on the exit of the Turn 4/5 left-hander and dropped down to fifth place with two minutes remaining. Evans told the team by radio that he had damaged the car. Had he remained in second place he would have moved up to second in the points standings.

This allowed Nick Cassidy to claim second place to match his best result of his rookie season with Envision Virgin. He fended off pressure from defending champion António Félix da Costa of DS Techeetah, who earns his first podium finish since his spectacular Monaco win. Pascal Wehrlein was the lead Porsche driver over the line in fourth place ahead of team-mate André Lotterer. Alexander Sims finished in a distant sixth place for Mahindra while Norman Nato came seventh for Venturi. Robin Frijns slipped to third in the championship, despite finishing eighth. Alex Lynn (Mahindra) and yesterday's winner Maximilian Guenther (BMW) rounded out the top 10.

-Full event results

The latest chapter in Lucas di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi’s long-standing rivalry produced another collision between the duo, who also came together earlier in the season in Rome. Audi's Di Grassi attacked Nissan driver Buemi’s ninth place on the inside of the Turn 6 chicane and Buemi was sent into a spin while di Grassi continued. However the stewards slapped di Grassi with a 10 second penalty and the 2016/17 champion dropped from ninth at the chequered flag to 14th position - one place ahead of Buemi. Buemi also made contact with di Grassi’s Audi team-mate René Rast on lap three. The contact gave Rast right-rear puncture and he finished down in 20th place.

Sérgio Sette Camara (Dragon) slipped to eleventh after qualifying fifth, ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes), Evans, di Grassi, Buemi and Jake Dennis (BMW). Outgoing championship leader Edoardo Mortara found himself in the barriers at the Turn 6/7 chicane after contact with the BMW of Dennis. Mortara rejoined the race but finished well down the order in 17th place.

Nyck de Vries was 18th in the other Mercedes, ahead of Nissan's Oliver Rowland, Rast, NIO 333's Tom Blomqvist and Dragon's Joel Eriksson. Oliver Turvey's NIO 333 failed to make the finish for the third race running, the Briton's car developing more mechanical issues. Jean-Éric Vergne’s miserable day continued. He lost power in qualifying and couldn’t set a lap and in the race, the two-time FE champion couldn’t even get off the line.

2021 New York City E-Prix 2 Classification (37 Laps)