» Formula E: Abt stripped of victory, Rosenqvist inherits win

Audi’s Daniel Abt experienced a complete rollercoaster of emotions on his 25th birthday. The German broke through to claim a maiden Formula E ePrix victory in the second race at Hong Kong, only to later be disqualified and the win handed to Mahindra’s Felix Rosenqvist.

Abt, whose family owns the team Audi provides manufacturer support to, has largely been an understudy to teammate Lucas di Grassi since the inception of the Formula E Championship.

This time he had done everything right. After being promoted to third on the grid thanks to grid penalties for Mitch Evans and Race 1 winner Sam Bird, Abt moved to second place on the opening lap when pole-sitter Rosenqvist had a clumsy half-spin at the Turn 1 hairpin and fell to tenth place.

Rosenqvist’s fellow front-row starter Edoardo Mortara inherited the lead of the race in just his second ever ePrix, gradually pulling clear of of Abt until the compulsory mid-race pit stops.

The Swiss driver kept his lead after the pit stops were complete, maintaining a three-second cushion over Abt as the lap counter wound down. With three laps to go, disaster struck when the Venturi driver spun at Turn 2.

The perennially unlucky Abt finally seemed to have some good fortune come his way, inheriting the lead of the race which he kept over the remaining laps to celebrate his first win in the Formula E Championship.

Or so he thought. After the champagne had been sprayed and the trophies handed out on the podium, there came the shock news that Abt had been disqualified. The FIA stewards ruled that “[its] security stickers (barcodes) on the inverter and MGU units did not correspond with those declared on the Technical Passport provided by the competitor Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler for the event”.

While the discrepancy afforded Abt no performance advantage whatsoever, rules are rules. The Audi team quickly served notice of its intention to appeal, but later reversed its decision.

Victory instead went to Rosenqvist, who fought his way back up the order after his Lap 1 indiscretion. A swift pit stop saw the Swede emerge in third place, which became second thanks to Mortara’s late-race spin.

A sheepish Mortara finished in second place, ruing the error that cost him a sensational victory on his debut weekend in the category.

Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans was promoted to third place, giving the outfit its first Formula E podium finish, ahead of Jean-Éric Vergne (Techeetah) and Race 1 winner Sam Bird.

Bird had started the race from thirteenth after a 10-place grid penalty, but steadily worked his way forwards to seventh place and that became sixth thanks to DS Virgin teammate Alex Lynn’s car running out of battery on the run to the finish line while running in fifth. The unlucky Briton was eventually classified ninth.

Oliver Turvey (NIO) was classified sixth, with Maro Engel (Venturi), Nicolas Prost (Renault e.dams), the aforementioned Lynn and Sébastien Buemi (Renault e.dams) completed the top ten finishers once the FIA’s final classification was released.

The last two seasons’ champions, Buemi and Lucas di Grassi, both looked to have point-less weekends. Buemi was originally classified eleventh after starting the race at the back of the grid, while di Grassi was a lowly 15th after his Audi temporarily stopped on track with a battery issue.

Abt’s disqualification awarded Bird a two-point lead over Vergne in the Drivers’ Championship standings, with 35 points to the Frenchman’s 33. Rosenqvist is placed third on 29 points, which includes four bonus points for his pole position and posting the fastest race lap among the top-ten finishers.

2017 Formula E Hong Kong ePrix – Race 2 Final Classification (45 laps)
Pos	Driver	Team / Entry	Laps	Result	Pts
1.	Felix Rosenqvist	Mahindra Racing	45	50:05.084	29
2.	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi Formula E Team	45	+ 7.031	18
3.	Mitch Evans	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	45	+ 10.619	15
4.	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah	45	+ 12.593	12
5.	Sam Bird	DS Virgin Racing	45	+ 12.879	10
6.	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	45	+ 14.199	8
7.	Maro Engel	Venturi Formula E Team	45	+ 15.676	6
8.	Nicolas Prost	Renault e.Dams	45	+ 18.905	4
9.	Alex Lynn	DS Virgin Racing	45	+ 19.025	2
10.	Sébastien Buemi	Renault e.Dams	45	+ 22.139	1
11.	António Félix da Costa	MS&AD Andretti Formula E	45	+ 23.159
12.	Nelson Piquet Jr	Panasonic Jaguar Racing	45	+ 27.104
13.	André Lotterer	Techeetah	45	+ 28.591
14.	Lucas di Grassi	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler	45	+ 39.137
15.	Jérôme d’Ambrosio	Dragon Racing	45	+ 55.187
16.	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra Racing	44	1 lap behind
17.	Kamui Kobayashi	MS&AD Andretti Formula E	44	1 lap behind
18.	Neel Jani	Dragon Racing	44	1 lap behind
	Not Classified	Team / Entry	Laps	Result
DNF.	Luca Filippi	NIO Formula E Team	36	Track Rod
DSQ.	Daniel Abt	Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler		Disqualified

Bonus Championship Points:

Three bonus points awarded to Felix Rosenqvist for claiming pole position
One bonus point awarded to Felix Rosenqvist for posting the fastest race lap by a top-ten finisher. Lucas di Grassi posted the fastest overall lap of the race.

Post-Race Penalties:

Daniel Abt was disqualified after FIA stewards discovered the bar codes on his car’s inverter and motor-generator unit did not match those on its technical passport provided to Audi.

Images via FIA Formula E Championship