Di Grassi Wins Inaugural Puebla E-Prix As Dominant Wehrlein Disqualified

Calum Gill 23:15 19/06/2021

Lucas di Grassi has won the first ever Puebla E-Prix, leading home an Audi 1-2 after on-track winner Pascal Wehrlein was disqualified for a technical infringement.

Porsche's Wehrlein had controlled the race superbly, his pace allowing him to take his second attack mode and maintain first position. But late in the race it was announced that both Porsches and both Nissans were under investigation for an initially unspecified technical infraction. Just after the finish, Wehrlein and team-mate André Lotterer were wiped from the timing screens because Porsche had not declared pre-race which tyre sets they would use. The Nissans were also thrown out for the same offence.

This meant that di Grassi's charge through the field from eighth place proved to be enough to take his and the works Audi team's first win since the 2019 Berlin ePrix. di Grassi's teammate René Rast made it a one-two for the German manufacturer, joining Brazil's di Grassi in passing Edoardo Mortara in the closing stages. Mortara finished third for the Venturi team.

The BMWs of Maximilian Guenther and Jake Dennis had been second and third in Wehrlein’s wake for much of the race before fading late on. Dennis ended up fifth behind Alexander Sims’s Mahindra, but Guenther fell right back to 12th. Monaco winner António Félix da Costa was 6th, while championship contenders Stoffel Vandoorne, Mitch Evans and de Vries all recovered from poor qualifying to finish 7th, 8th and 9th respectively. Alex Lynn in the Mahindra rounded out the top 10. Robin Frijns held onto the championship lead despite finishing only 16th following a penalty for punting title rival Nyck de Vries’ Mercedes into a spin having locked up while passing Lynn.

Oliver Rowland, Sam Bird, Jean-Éric Vergne and Nick Cassidy all failed to finish, with all bar Rowland falling foul to the wall on the outside of turn 8. Bird and Vergne were both squeezed into the wall after activating attack mode, whilst Cassidy was involved in a first lap incident. Rowland - who started second - had a torrid time after dropping to 14th off the start. His miserable afternoon came to an end when he retired to the pits, but he was disqualified, along with Nissan teammate Sébastian Buemi and the two Porsche cars.

2021 Puebla E-Prix 1 Classification (28 Laps)

1st. Lucas di Grassi (Audi)

2nd. René Rast (Audi)

3rd. Edoardo Mortara (Venturi)

4th. Alexander Sims (Mahindra)

5th. Jake Dennis (BMW)

6th. António Félix da Costa (DS Techeetah)

7th. Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes)

8th. Mitch Evans (Jaguar)

9th. Nyck de Vries (Mercedes)

10th. Alex Lynn (Mahindra)

11th. Oliver Turvey (NIO 333)

12th. Maximilian Guenther (BMW)

13th. Tom Blomqvist (NIO 333)

14th. Norman Nato (Venturi)

15th. Sérgio Sette Camara (Dragon)

16th. Robin Frijns (Virgin)

17th. Joel Eriksson (Dragon)

DNF: Sam Bird (Jaguar) (15 Laps)

DNF: Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Techeetah) (12 Laps)

DNF: Nick Cassidy (Virgin) (0 Laps)

DSQ: Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)

DSQ: André Lotterer (Porsche)

DSQ: Sébastian Buemi (Nissan)

DSQ: Oliver Rowland (Nissan)