Bern E-Prix: Jean-Eric Vergne holds on in wet conditions to clinch third victory of the season
The Frenchman held off Mitch Evans in the closing stages of the race to take another step closer to securing this year’s Championship title
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Your support makes all the difference.It’d been a long time coming but eventually the heavens opened. On an evening that had started with glorious sunshine and high drama, in the form of a controversial race restart, the 2019 Bern E-Prix ended with a downpour as Jean-Eric Vergne held on in tricky conditions to secure his third victory of this Formula E Championship.
This was never going to be a straight-forward affair. Before it had even begun the race was subject to dissension, as angry residents of Bern protested against the disruption the series had brought to Switzerland’s de facto capital over the weekend.
But the controversy didn’t stop there. After a jam on the first chicane of the opening lap brought the grid to a complete standstill, the decision was made to restart the race with just 44.06 minutes on the clock.
Amid the initial chaos, a number of drivers, including former champion Lucas di Grassi, had seized their opportunity to sneak through the escape road on the chicane and improve their position on the grid, with the Brazilian notably jumping from 19th to ninth.
But their fortune was short-lived. “This is completely wrong,” Di Grassi snapped at officials after being told that the overtakes were under a yellow flag and therefore not permitted. He was joined by Felipe Massa, another to have capitalised on the confusion, who raged that he had “never seen [anything like] this in my life”.
Their protestations were in vain, though, and once the race got back underway with the drivers in their original starting positions, it was Vergne’s to lose.
Having started in pole position, the Frenchman looked comfortable for the majority of the 45 minutes only for the introduction of rain to complicate matters in the final two laps.
Faced with a wet track, Vergne came under pressure as second-placed Mitch Evans repeatedly pushed for a way past on this narrow 2.75km-long course, making for a thrilling conclusion.
But Vergne refused to relinquish his lead, just edging out his rival on the final stretch, to place one hand on a second Formula E title ahead of next month’s double-header finale in New York.
Although the likes of Di Grassi and Massa were left to lament the early decision-making of the officials, it was an evening that Sam Bird, finishing in fifth, will take some comfort from. Having picked up two just points from his previous five races, this was much-needed.
After starting the race in sixth, Bird looked poised to push for a podium finish after moving up to fourth in the latter stages of the race. But a shrewd overtake from Andre Lotterer effectively dashed all hopes of a late push for the top three.
The Championship now heads to New York on the 12th and 13th of July for the final two races of the season.
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