2017 Hong Kong ePrix

2017 Hong Kong ePrix
Race 1 of 12 of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship Next race →
Race details[1][2]
Date	2 December 2017 (2017-12-02)
Official name	2017 FIA Formula E HKT Hong Kong ePrix[3]
Location	Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit, Hong Kong
Course	Street circuit
Course length	1.860 kilometres (1.156 mi)
Distance	43 laps, 79.98 miles (128.72 km)
Weather	Sunny
Pole position
Driver	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-Renault
Time	1:03.568
Fastest lap
Driver	Jérôme d'Ambrosio	Dragon-Penske
Time	1:04.297 on lap 34
Podium
First	Sam Bird	Virgin-Citroën
Second	Jean-Éric Vergne	Techeetah-Renault
Third	Nick Heidfeld	Mahindra
Lap leaders

The 2017 Hong Kong ePrix (formally the 2017 FIA Formula E HKT Hong Kong ePrix for sponsorship purposes) was a pair of Formula E electric car races held on 2 and 3 December 2017 at the Hong Kong Central Harbourfront Circuit in Hong Kong before a two-day crowd of 27,000 people. They were the first and second races of the 2017–18 Formula E Championship and the second running of the event. The 43-lap race on 2 December was won by Virgin driver Sam Bird from second place. Jean-Éric Vergne finished second for the Techeetah team and Mahindra driver Nick Heidfeld was third. The longer 45-lap race held on 3 December was won by Heidfeld's teammate Felix Rosenqvist from pole position. Edoardo Mortara of the Venturi team was the highest-placed rookie in second and Jaguar's Mitch Evans was third.

Vergne won the pole position for the first race by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained his startline advantage on the first lap. The race saw the first race stoppage in Formula E history on the first lap when rookie André Lotterer was caught out by traffic and hit the turn three and four chicane barrier, forcing three other cars to stop on track. After the running order was sorted, the race restarted half an hour later behind the safety car with Vergne leading Bird. On lap 20, Bird took the lead from Vergne, and held it for the rest of the race despite incurring a drive-through penalty for a collision with the side of his garage in the pit lane claim his sixth career victory.

Rosenqvist took pole position for the second race which began behind the safety car because of a technical failure that stopped the lights gantry from working. He immediately lost the lead when he half-spun at turn one, allowing Mortara to pass him for the position. Mortara managed his electrical energy usage better than the rest of the field to lead for most of the race. With three laps left, however, Mortara spun at turn two, promoting Abt into first place who held it to finish first on-track. Three hours after the race, Abt was disqualified because his inverter and motor-generator unit security stickers did not match those on his car's technical passport. Audi did not take up an appeal to protest the decision and Rosenqvist took his second career victory.

After the races Bird led the Drivers' Championship by two points over Vergne in second. Rosenqvist's victory in the second race put him third on 29 points while Mortara was a further five points behind in fourth and Heidfeld was fifth. Mahindra took the early lead in the Teams' Championship with 44 points; Virgin were in second place on 41 and Techeetah were a further eight points behind in third. Venturi were fourth on 30 points and Jaguar rounded out the top five with ten races left in the season.