Some of the world’s most advanced race cars and the world’s best drivers descended on Hong Kong this weekend to battle it out on the streets of Central District. It was the first round of the 2016 Formula E season – the series’ third since kicking off in 2014. The narrow two-kilometre street circuit saw plenty of action over the weekend, with punishing bumps and tight corners testing the abilities of both car and driver – not everyone was to make it to the finish line in one piece.
Saturday saw the first ever round of the E-Touring Cup take place, which runs a field of identical race-prepped VW Golf-Es, with practice, qualifying and the race session all going down the same day. It was Andrew Lo that emerged victorious and relatively unscathed in the professional driver’s battle, while actor Chin Ka-Lok took out the celebrity race. Saturday also featured a demo-run of the super-quick Detroit Electric sports car, with Hong Kong superstar driver Darryl O-Young behind the wheel, as well as a charity supercar parade and the first shakedown session for the screaming Formula E cars, which allowed the teams and drivers to get a feel for the circuit. It was Sunday’s action, however, that the crowds had come to see.
Things could not have started off better for Chinese team NextEV after the results of the midday qualifying session came in, with both drivers Nelson Piquet Jr and Oliver Turvey grabbing the first two positions on the grid. It all took a sour turn mid-race, though, as Turvey conceded a couple of positions on lap six, and was then the victim of a badly timed pitstop and safety car to end up in eighth position. Things went even worse for Piquet, who was commanding a comfortable lead until the 18th lap, when he had to take an evasive maneuver straight into the wall to avoid WTCC Champion José María López who had shunted the barriers hard and was stranded right in the middle of the race line. After another disastrous pit stop, Piquet finished the race in a very disappointing eleventh place.
This was all to work out in favour of ex-Toro Rosso driver and 2015 Formula E champion Sébastien Buemi, who had qualified fifth on the grid. A solid race from e.Dams Renault’s Buemi was helped massively by the Piquet incident, and after a technical problem in the pits held up front runner DS Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird, Buemi found himself in the lead. He would go on to secure the top spot on the podium, with Lucas Di Grassi in second and veteran F1 driver Nick Heidfeld in third.
Rumours had it that if the event went well, the Hong Kong authorities would begin plans to build an even bigger and better race next year. Considering the at-capacity sell-out crowds, the great festival atmosphere and exciting hard-fought racing on track, Hong Kong’s first E-Prix will almost certainly become a regular fixture on the international race scene.
