Formula E Putrajaya: Bird takes dominant win as slow pit stop costs Chandhok

Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird cruised to victory in the second round of 2014/15 Formula E Championship at the Malaysian city of Putrajaya, finishing four seconds ahead of Audi Sport ABT's Lucas Di Grassi.

Bird reeled in pole sitter Oriol Servia after the safety car period and never looked back, lapping as much as two seconds quicker than rest of the Formula E field. With rivals failing to mount a challenge, the former Mercedes AMG F1 development driver took an easy victory in Malaysia.

The Audi Sport ABT pairing had mixed fortunes in the South East Asian country. While Lucas di Grassi made his all the way from back of the grid to finish second, Daniel Abt had a horrible getaway from third place and joined the rear of the field as the 20 electric cars made its way through turn 1. Abt pulled a trick by pitting under the safety car and somehow manage to save enough battery power to make it to the chequered flag in 10th place.

e.Dams Renault have arguably the best car in Formula E and their two drivers Sebastien Buemi and Nicolas Prost made the most of it to finish in third and fourth positions respectively, despite starting well down the order.

Jerome d’Ambrosio who was forced to start from last place after exceeding allowed electric usage, was one of the stars of the show, gaining 15 positions over the 31 lap race to take fifth place for Dragon Racing.

SLOW PIT STOP COSTS CHANDHOK
For India's Mahindra Racing, it was a day of what could have been. Karun Chandhok was running in a strong third place and on the gearbox of Jarno Trulli before a poor pit stop - during which he lost 14 seconds - dropped him well down the order. He recovered well enough to take sixth place.

His teammate Bruno Senna crashed on the final lap of the race, having shortly overtaken Prost for fourth with the infamous fan boost. The Brazilian appeared to have lost the rear of the car, sending him straight into the wall.

Antonio Felix da Costa bagged eighth place in his first ever ePrix ahead of Jaime Alguersuari who grabbed two additional points for setting the fastest lap of the race. The aforementioned Daniel Abt secured the final point with 10th.

Jarno Trulli was running as high as second place before a drive through penalty dropped him outside of the points. He eventually pulled into the pits, having been involved in a collision with Nelson Piquet Jr.

The third round of the championship takes place in Punta del Este, Uruguay on December 13.

FORMULA E PUTRAJAYA ePrix RACE RESULTS (Top 10)

1) Sam Bird (Virgin Racing)
2) Lucas di Grassi (Audi Sport ABT) +4.175
3) Sebastien Buemi (e.Dams Renault) +5.739
4) Nicolas Prost (e.Dams Renault) +9.552
5) Jerome D’ambrosio (Dragon Racing) +13.722
6) Karun Chandhok (Mahindra Racing) +17.152
7) Oriol Servia (Dragon Racing) +18.621
8) Antonio Felix da Costa (Amlin Aguri) +18.621
9) Jaime Alguersuari (Virgin Racing) +20.053
10) Daniel Abt (Audi Sport ABT) +45.663