until Abu Dhabi Autonomous Racing League
BMW driver Maximilian Guenther took victory in the second round of the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge for UNICEF.
The race was held at a specially-made 18-corner test track on rFactor 2 dubbed Electric Docks.
Guenther maintained his 100% strike-rate after taking the lead at the first corner as Stoffel Vandoorne crashed out from pole position for the second event in succession.
Mercedes-Benz EQ driver Vandoorne re-joined the race but struggled with a damaged car and eventually finished fifth.
Guenther was able to open up an initial gap over Andre Lotterer but the Porsche ace fell back to the rear of the field after clattering the wall on the exit of the treacherous first chicane.
This allowed Pascal Wehrlein to inherit second position and the Mahindra driver set about catching leader Guenther.
This he did at the mid-point stage of the race but as soon as he latched on to the BMW he made a mistake at the exit of the first chicane and damaged his car after hefty contact with the wall.
Oh no! @PWehrlein hits the wall after chasing down @maxg_official the entire race #ABBFormulaE #RaceAtHome
DONATE TO @UNICEF – https://t.co/9KqVKEr3qA pic.twitter.com/XCmFZpZPUf
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) May 2, 2020
This put Wehrlein into the clutches of Robin Frijns, who was able to clear the Mahindra with ease and claim an eventual second place in his Envision Virgin Audi.
Nico Mueller’s GEOX Dragon was also able to vault the hobbled Wehrlein to round out the podium after a brief dice with Frijns for second.
Neel Jani took an uneventful fourth for Porsche, while Oliver Turvey was just unable to overtake the damaged Vandoorne and had to settle for sixth position in his NIO333 entered car.
Nyck de Vries put in one of the drives of the race to take seventh after scything through the field from a 21st-place grid start after suffering a qualifying accident.
The Jaguar pair of Mitch Evans and James Calado had been running seventh and eighth in the early stages but collided at the chicane, ending the Kiwi’s race and shunting Calado down to an eventual eighth-place finish.
Two-time Formula E champion Jean-Eric Vergne recovered from an early race incident to grab ninth for DS Techeetah after a fraught battle with Calado and the hobbled Wehrlein on the final lap.
The event came in for some criticism though from Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler driver Lucas di Grassi. The Brazilian tweeted his displeasure about the lack of comparison to real-life Formula E, saying: “Virtual Formula E should be similar to real. The track is only available for 45 min practice then qualy and race. One week of practice 5h a day isn’t what we get in real life.”
Virtual Formula E should be similar to real. The track is only available for 45 min practice then qualy and race.
One week of practice 5h a day isn’t what we get in real life
— LUCAS DI GRASSI (@LucasdiGrassi) May 2, 2020
The supporting Challenge race saw GEOX Dragon’s Payo Peev lead home Kevin Siggy’s BMW i Andretti Motorsport entry as the Bulgarian completed a lights-to-flag victory.
Lucas Mueller rounded out the podium for Mahindra, finishing ahead of Jan von der Heyde’s Nissan, which engaged in a race-long battle with eventual fifth-placed finisher Petar Brljak.
The race witnessed a massive accident for Jaguar’s Kuba Brzezinski, who was launched over the barriers and ended his afternoon amid several shipping containers.
Brzezinski’s teammate Alex Lynn took a point for 10th position on his esports debut.
