Renault e.dams võitis Hong Kongis

Renault e.dams win Hong Kong ePrix

Renault e.dams opened season three of the FIA Formula EChampionship in emphatic fashion with Sébastien Buemi taking his seventh careerFormula E win and Nico Prost working his way back through the field to finish fourth inthe HKT Hong Kong ePrix. The team leaves Hong Kong with 37 points in theTeam Championship, ahead of ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport and Andretti FormulaE who both have 18 points.

From fourth on the grid, Sébastian drove in ameasured and assured fashion to take one position on merit, another thanks to arival getting tangled up in another's incident and finally P1 thanks to pitstop strategy. The win means Séb starts his Drivers' Championshipdefence with 25 points to Lucas di Grassi's 18.

If Séb's race was measured, then Nico Prost's was fully feisty from startto finish. From P10 on the grid, a mode selection issue meant Nico droppedpositions on the initial lap and this was compounded by contact front and rearas the field compressed. On a charge and in the correct mode, Nico blasted pasthis rivals and worked up the order ending his race just shy of the podium infourth.

Qualifying earlier in the day had been an eventful affair. Incidents in Q1, Q2and Q3 meant delayed running and cancellation of Superpole, the net result forthe Renault e.dams duo was P4 for Séb, P10 for Nico.

Renault e.dams, Sébastien and Nico will next be seen in action for the secondround of season three, the Marrakesh ePrix in Morocco on November 12.

#9 Séb:
"Initially I thought we'd made a mistake when we made our pit stopunder the safety car, but as we saw it all worked out perfectly. I'm happy withtoday's result but we certainly had to fight for it. We saw in qualifying justhow hard everyone was pushing and the race was not easy for us. I felt a lothappier with the second car today as we made some set-up changes but overallthis has been a great weekend and a superb way to start the season."

#8 Nico:
"I don't know exactly what happened on the first lap as I got stuck in thewrong mode and I lost a load of places. Fortunately I was back into the correctmode on the straight so I fought like hell to overtake everyone I could; I wasreally going for every gap possible! In the end our race turned out really welland we had a great strategy. It was a fantastic result for the team today soI'm really happy for everyone."

Vincent Gaillardot, Renault Operations Director:
"Our weekend finished a lot better than it started as we had an issue onone of Nico's car in the shakedown. We knew from free practice today that wehad good potential, however qualifying was more difficult than expected. Ourrace performance was consistent, we had a good strategy and both drivers drovewell. Séb was able to take the lead through a combination of factors but mainlythanks to a strong and sensible drive with an effectivestrategy. Nico had a switch-management issue at the start but was able torecover well. Everything we've seen in Hong Kong is promising for the season."

Jean-Paul Driot, Senior Team Manager:
"There is no better way to start season three. We saw that qualifying wasvery tight this morning but the quality of our drivers and our strong strategyplayed out well. We are happy to be the first team ever to win in HongKong, just as being the first Formula E team to win in Monaco. These arefantastic milestones. I'm very pleased with how the team worked and the driversdelivered all weekend. Renault e.dams is a great combination of strengths withour technology, professionalism and efficiency giving greatresults!"

Alain Prost, Senior Team Manager:
"Whata fantastic way to start the season! The first-ever Hong Kong ePrix certainlylooked spectacular and we saw some very close competition.I’m particularly proud at how the team delivered in a strong and measuredfashion across the whole event. Both drivers drove very well and the strategyworked well. Qualifying might not have been as good as we wanted but in therace, everyone gave exactly what was required. Séb drove a very mature andeffective race whilst Nico showed great aggression to work back up the orderafter issues on the first lap. We’re all very much looking forward toMarrakesh."