Vergne wins New York FE finale as Audi snatches teams' title

Jean-Eric Vergne ended his title-winning campaign on a high by winning the Formula E season finale in New York on Sunday afternoon, but was powerless to prevent Audi from snatching the teams' title away from Techeetah.

After being crowned Season 4 champion on Saturday with a fifth-place finish, Vergne wasted little time in grabbing the lead of Sunday's race at the start, charging from third on the grid to pass teammate Andre Lotterer and pole-sitter Sebastien Buemi into Turn 1.

Lotterer was able to follow Techeetah teammate Vergne past Buemi soon after, putting the Chinese squad in position to win the teams' championship, only for both drivers to be put under investigation for potentially jumping the start.

Lotterer was deemed to have moved his car before the lights went out, receiving a 10-second stop/go penalty, but Vergne escaped penalty after narrowly avoiding a jump, calling his getaway the "best of my life" after the race.

After taking the penalty, Lotterer was running outside of the points, putting Audi in position to get the jump in the teams' championship as Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt rose to second and third respectively, both moving ahead of Buemi.

Di Grassi piled pressure on Vergne for the lead while Abt continued to defend from Buemi after pitting one lap earlier, meaning he had to save more energy through the second half of the race. Abt had already set the fastest lap of the race, though, giving Audi an additional bonus point that could prove crucial in deciding the championship.

Lotterer did his best to play party pooper, rising through the order to finish ninth after passing Nicolas Prost and Sam Bird, grabbing two additional points for Techeetah. With Vergne under pressure from di Grassi at the front - the pair even making light contact at one point - and Buemi closing on Abt for third, the teams' championship remained up in the air heading into the final lap.

Vergne was able to pull clear to clinch his fourth victory of the season, but with the Audis retaining P2 and P3 and Lotterer only ninth, the German manufacturer was able to leapfrog Techeetah at the final hurdle and clinch its maiden teams' championship.

Audi had entered the weekend trailing Techeetah by 33 points in the teams' standings, yet was able to turn things around and become the second marque to win the championship, ending Renault's streak of three straight wins.

Di Grassi's second-place finish also saw him jump Bird for second place in the drivers' championship, having recorded top-two finishes in each of the last seven races of the season.

Buemi was left to settle for P4 ahead of Mahindra's Felix Rosenqvist, who recorded his best result since Punta del Este by finishing fifth. Jaguar drivers Mitch Evans and Nelson Piquet Jr. finished sixth and seventh respectively ahead of Nick Heidfeld in the second Mahindra, with Lotterer finishing ninth ahead of Bird, who took the final point for P10.

Nicolas Prost's time with Renault e.dams ended with an 11th-place finish ahead of Andretti's Stephane Sarrazin. Ma Qinghua's last-minute appearance for NIO saw him finish one lap down in 13th ahead of Alex Lynn, who was two laps down after serving an early penalty.

Antonio Felix da Costa parked his Andretti car up with three laps remaining after an earlier collision with Luca Filippi that forced the NIO driver to retire from the race. Filippi was left unable to turn his car, causing him to push Jerome d'Ambrosio into the wall. D'Ambrosio's Dragon teammate, Jose Maria Lopez, also retired from the race, as did Venturi's Tom Dillmann after four laps.

Season 5 of Formula E begins on December 15 in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.