Despite Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird initially celebrating the win with Mortara in second place on the podium, a racing incident penalty for the Brit promoted the Swiss-Italian to first place with the Monegasque outfit celebrating their first victory.
Securing his first podium with a second place at the Hong Kong ePrix in Season 4, Edoardo Mortara returned to the Chinese street circuit with good memory. Despite being handed the race win after a penalty, the 32-year-old proved that consistency is more down to hard work than chance by fighting his way up the grid from sixth position to take the top spot.
“Fourth in Santiago, third in Mexico, now my first victory in Hong Kong! I’m so proud and finding out that I had won was an incredible feeling for me. The race was awesome and I’ve had a wonderful weekend – historically racing in Asia brings me so much luck – honestly, I’m over the moon and I couldn’t be happier.
The team have done a brilliant job, they put in all the hours and pull out all the stops – this result is a tribute to their hard work. This result is for them – I know that it will motivate them even more and I can’t wait to get back out on the track”, stated Mortara.
Formula E’s 50th e-Prix was the first ever official ‘wet race’ which resulted in a slippery track with the race featuring three safety cars and a red flag period following multiple crashes. Venturi’s Felipe Massa took advantage of the red flag situation, with the Brazilian’s fast working engineering crew fixing the rear wing damage on his Venturi VFE-05, allowing Massa to continue his fight up the grid from ninth place in qualifying to finish fifth in the final race classification.
After putting in a solid and steady performance during the race with his best finish so far this season, Massa said: “Again another action filled race where so much happened. My race had a fantastic start and I gained two positions then a racing incident resulted in me losing several positions and damage to the rear of my car. Fortunately we had the red flag and managed to fix the problem with the suspension.
After the restart the race was great. I managed to save the battery in a great way at the beginning, I had great race pace and I managed to overtake a few guys. P5 today is my best result so far but I still have in my mind that it could have been even better.”
“Our first race victory marks a really important milestone for the team. Both drivers did a great job this weekend, and the team capitalised on all the opportunities in the race. We definitely benefited from others misfortune this weekend but that’s racing, it can be brutal and we have had our fair share of tough moments already this season, today is a very special day – I will be leaving Hong Kong one very happy Team Principal”, added Susie Wolff.
