Abt takes redemptive Mexico Formula E victory

Daniel Abt charged from fifth place on the grid to score his maiden FIA Formula E victory on Saturday in Mexico City thanks to a combination of misfortune for his rivals, passes on-track and quick work in the pits by his Audi team.

Abt took the chequered flag first in Hong Kong last December before being disqualified due to a technical infringement, but managed to make up for the heartbreak by taking a well-executed victory in Mexico, finishing six seconds clear of the field.

Abt made a good start to rise to fourth on the opening lap, but it was pole-sitter Felix Rosenqvist of Mahindra who controlled the early part of the race, leading from Oliver Turvey and Sebastien Buemi.

Rosenqvist pulled out a two-second gap to Turvey before an issue caused his car to stop on-track on Lap 14, dropping him all the way back to P19 before the same problem emerged on multiple occasions through the remainder of the race, forcing Mahindra to retire the car.

Rosenqvist's misfortune handed the lead to Turvey, who retained his advantage until the car swaps at half distance, entering the pit lane with a slender advantage over Abt, who had passed Buemi for second place on-track.

A rapid car swap by the Audi team vaulted Abt ahead of Turvey in the pit lane, giving the German a healthy buffer upon returning to the track before peeling away through the second half of the race.

Abt never came under pressure in the closing stages, crossing the line with a six-second advantage to the rest of the field as he clinched his first win in Formula E and Audi's first of Season 4.

Turvey was able to hold on to second place and score his first Formula E podium despite coming under heavy pressure from Buemi late on. Buemi had dropped to fourth place after a slow car swap, but used FanBoost to pass Jean-Eric Vergne for position, who also lost out to Nelson Piquet Jr. and was eventually left in P5 at the chequered flag.

Mitch Evans took sixth for Jaguar ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa, who was stripped of a front row start earlier in the day after his car was found to be underweight, while Edoardo Mortara finished eighth for Venturi.

Defending Formula E champion Lucas di Grassi picked up his first points of the season after battling from the rear of the pack twice before eventually crossing the line ninth. Di Grassi started last due to a grid penalty and was forced to take an in-race penalty, but managed to claw his way back up the order to secure two points, plus one bonus score for posting the fastest lap.

Alex Lynn completed the points in P10 for DS Virgin Racing ahead of Dragon drivers Jerome d'Ambrosio and Jose Maria Lopez, with Andre Lotterer crossing the line 13th after being given a drive-through for an unsafe pit release that saw him knock over one of the Techeetah mechanics while leaving the garage.

Luca Filippi and Tom Blomqvist were classified 14th and 15th respectively ahead of Maro Engel and Sam Bird, both of whom hit trouble during the race and were the last classified finishers. Nicolas Prost and Nick Heidfeld were the only other retirees alongside Rosenqvist.

Formula E returns in two weeks' time with the Punta del Este E-Prix in Uruguay.