Sam Bird led from start to finish (apart from 1 lap where Piquet changed cars later than the leaders) but it was not a walk in the park. He was on pole with Prost in second and da Costa in third. Mike Conway was in fifth for his first race in this series whilst di Grassi was seventh after a poor lap. Buemi had a spin on his fast lap, finishing up eighteenth and last.
The race saw di Grassi moving forward and Buemi overtaking drivers as though they had Honda engines. Bird drove steadily in the first session, da Costa had overtaken Prost. Prost had a loss of power as they came into the pits, holding up Sarrazin to the benefit of Buemi (not intentional of course).
Just after all the cars had made their mid-race stops the safety car was brought out to allow the salvage of da Costas car which had broken down well off line just before the pit stops.
Bird took a flier far earlier than expected when the safety car went in an built a small buffer, di Grassi being second, Sarrazin in third with Buemi fourth. Buemi made light work of getting past into third place but it was not until there was a quarter of the race left before di Grassi, who had been keeping Bird honest and looked like he might overtake Bird at one time, succumbed to Buemi. From then on it was a matter of whether or not Bird could hold on to the lead; he had great support from the team on the radio who kept on telling him that he had a 2% advantage over his rivals. In the end it was that advantage which proved to be vital, firstly di Costa eased off then Buemi followed suit after a final attempt at victory with just over a lap left.
Buemi clearly had the fastest car and he made use of it unlike Prost who is simply not as fast as buemi in the same car. But Bird was the driver who made more of what he had than anyone else to take a deserved win.
The race saw di Grassi moving forward and Buemi overtaking drivers as though they had Honda engines. Bird drove steadily in the first session, da Costa had overtaken Prost. Prost had a loss of power as they came into the pits, holding up Sarrazin to the benefit of Buemi (not intentional of course).
Just after all the cars had made their mid-race stops the safety car was brought out to allow the salvage of da Costas car which had broken down well off line just before the pit stops.
Bird took a flier far earlier than expected when the safety car went in an built a small buffer, di Grassi being second, Sarrazin in third with Buemi fourth. Buemi made light work of getting past into third place but it was not until there was a quarter of the race left before di Grassi, who had been keeping Bird honest and looked like he might overtake Bird at one time, succumbed to Buemi. From then on it was a matter of whether or not Bird could hold on to the lead; he had great support from the team on the radio who kept on telling him that he had a 2% advantage over his rivals. In the end it was that advantage which proved to be vital, firstly di Costa eased off then Buemi followed suit after a final attempt at victory with just over a lap left.
Buemi clearly had the fastest car and he made use of it unlike Prost who is simply not as fast as buemi in the same car. But Bird was the driver who made more of what he had than anyone else to take a deserved win.