Review of the Marrakech ePrix: The Double Victory for Felix Rosenqvist

A reassuring pole for Sébastien Buemi

It was under a slight mist and a rather cool track that this qualifying session began. Group 1 consisted of Di Grassi, Lopez, Blomqvist, d’Ambrosio, and Lotterer. And it was Lucas di Grassi who fared the best in this first group alongside a surprising José María López in provisional second position. Then it was the turn of the second group to set off (with Buemi, Lynn, Engel, Prost, and Filippi). No improvement in time was noted, but the times achieved allowed Sébastien Buemi and Alex Lynn to provisionally slip in behind Di Grassi and López.

Let’s move on to the third group (with Bird, Vergne, Rosenqvist, Mortara, and Heidfeld). An excellent lap by Félix Rosenqvist allowed him to climb to the top of the timesheets. Sam Bird also did well, positioning himself in fifth place. Note the accident of Nick Heidfeld who found himself in the wall, the major wheel lock-up by Edoardo Mortara, and the underperformance of Jean-Éric Vergne. The last group (with Evans, Piquet, Abt, Da Costa, Turvey) failed to secure one of the five qualifying spots for the Super Pole. António Félix da Costa then treated us to a major crash into a tire wall, which necessitated the deployment of a red flag. The end of the session did not allow Daniel Abt to do better than an eighth-place position on the grid.

The five fastest drivers then competed in the Super Pole. As often, it was Sébastien Buemi who secured pole position ahead of Sam Bird by 260 tenths. In third position was Félix Rosenqvist, who made a slight mistake just ahead of José María López and Lucas Di Grassi, who suffered a propulsion issue preventing him from completing his lap.

Here is what the starting grid for the Marrakech ePrix race will look like:

An issue with @LucasdiGrassi and a mistake from @FRosenqvist, means @Sebastien_buemi takes the @juliusbaer pole position #MarrakeshEPrix pic.twitter.com/kLTQMt9Nto

— ABB FIA Formula E Championship (@FIAFormulaE) 13 janvier 2018

Felix Rosenqvist King of Morocco

We witnessed a rather clean start for all the competitors with Sébastien Buemi still leading ahead of Sam Bird and Felix Rosenqvist. There was no change in the Top 6 of the race, only Mitch Evans lost two positions to Daniel Abt and Nelson Piquet. Meanwhile, Jean-Éric Vergne had already moved up to tenth position. In the following laps, Sam Bird managed to stay very close to Sébastien Buemi but couldn’t attack him. On the second lap, Alex Lynn spun at the first corner after contact with Daniel Abt. José-Maria Lopez managed to keep Lucas Di Grassi behind him for three laps before having to give way to the Brazilian, losing two more places to Piquet and Abt. On the French side, Vergne managed to gain another place to move up to ninth, but Nicolas Prost found himself in a difficult position at the back of the field after being hit by André Lotterer.

We go green in Marrakesh for the 2018 ABB FIA Formula E #MarrakeshEPrix! pic.twitter.com/SYBER2Piqg

— ABB FIA Formula E Championship (@FIAFormulaE) 13 janvier 2018

Around the seventh lap, the leading trio began to pull away from the rest of the pack. In the same lap, Nelson Piquet easily overtook Lucas Di Grassi for fourth position. Di Grassi was actually suffering from a technical problem that forced him to slow down on the track and eventually retire. The problem encountered by Di Grassi is even more concerning as it is similar to the one experienced during the second phase of qualifying. The Brazilian, who is usually known for his impeccable consistency, will not score any points for the third consecutive time. While Daniel Abt managed to overtake Piquet for fourth position, the race management penalized him with a mandatory drive-through penalty, deeming him responsible for the incident with Alex Lynn.

Behind this little world, Maro Engel and Tom Blonqvist managed to break into the Top 10, and Jean-Éric Vergne continued his comeback. On the next lap, Oliver Turvey overtook Nick Heidfeld on the outside of the first corner. It’s worth noting that the penalty received by Daniel Abt allowed many drivers to gain a position. On the fourteenth lap, it could be seen that the group between the fourth and eighth places was very tight. Engel overtook Alex Lynn on the outside of the first corner for the eighth place, while Lotterer was forced to go straight into a runoff area, seemingly due to a technical problem.

In the sixteenth lap, Felix Rosenqvist managed to overtake Sam Bird for the second position without a significant resistance from the Briton, as Bird seemed to be struggling with his energy consumption. In the following lap, the first pit stops occurred for Mitch Evans, Antonio Félix Da Costa, Daniel Abt, Alex Lynn, and Nicolas Prost. It was then that the full course yellow procedure, which neutralizes the race by requiring drivers to activate their speed limiter, was implemented to allow the removal of André Lotterer’s car, this time definitively broken down. All the drivers rushed into the pit lane to change cars.

. @FRosenqvist outta no where! #MarrakeshEPrix pic.twitter.com/KJRa1IRgYQ

— ABB FIA Formula E Championship (@FIAFormulaE) 13 janvier 2018

The top three remained unchanged with Piquet, Vergne, Lopez, Engel, Heidfeld, Mortara, and Blomqvist behind them. The big loser of the pit stops was Turvey, who found himself out of the points. On the nineteenth lap, Buemi had a one and a half second lead over Felix Rosenqvist. At that moment in the race, the Swiss driver seemed well on his way to victory. The rest of the field was frozen from lap 20. A duel for fourth place between Piquet and Vergne seemed to be taking shape without the situation ultimately evolving. From the twenty-fourth lap, Felix Rosenqvist was gradually closing in on Sébastien Buemi with a better pace than the leader. It was finally four laps from the finish that the Swede managed to take the lead from Buemi, who could not block enough. Very quickly, Rosenqvist opened up a gap that would prove decisive in this race.

. @FRosenqvist takes the lead from @Sebastien_buemi with 4 laps to go #MarrakeshEPrix pic.twitter.com/GGfeBQXVX9

— ABB FIA Formula E Championship (@FIAFormulaE) 13 janvier 2018

The last notable event of this race will remain the triple collision between Nick Heidfeld, Maro Engel, and Edoardo Mortara. Engel, who was attempting to overtake Heidfeld, was hit by his teammate Mortara, who was trying a double overtake, which propelled Engel onto the German. It was therefore retirement for Edoardo Mortara. In the end, it was Maro Engel who finished ahead of Nick Heidfeld.

Felix Rosenqvist thus claimed his second consecutive victory of the season and secured his third success in the discipline to further enhance his single-seater record. This allowed him to take the lead in the championship. He was ahead of Sébastien Buemi, who had led a large part of the race starting from pole position before losing the lead a few laps from the finish. The Swiss driver, however, can be satisfied with scoring his first major points after two nightmare races. Behind him was Sam Bird, completing the podium in front of a solid Nelson Piquet and an excellent Jean-Éric Vergne. For the rest of the Top 10, we find José Maria Lopez, who offers his team their first points, Maro Engel, Nick Heidfeld, Tom Blomqvist, and Nicolas Prost.

Here is the final ranking of the race:

#MarrakeshEPrix 🇲🇦 Results

1. @FRosenqvist
2. @Sebastien_buemi
3. @sambirdracing
4. @NelsonPiquet
5. @JeanEricVergne #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/re8X6ifkJ7

— Michelin Motorsport (@Michelin_Sport) 13 janvier 2018

Felix Rosenqvist takes the lead in the championship at the expense of Sam Bird, with Jean-Éric Vergne completing the championship podium.

At the team championship level, Mahindra logically retains the lead ahead of DS Virgin and Techeetah.

That concludes the summary of the 2018 Marrakech ePrix. See you on February 3rd in the Chilean capital, Santiago, for the first ePrix organized in the city.