2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race

2018 Ad Diriyah eTrophy Race
The new Ad Diriyah Street Circuit
Race Information
Date	15 December 2018
Official Name	2018 Jaguar I-Pace Ad Diriyah eTrophy Race
Location	Ad Diriyah Street Circuit, Ad Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Lap length	2.495 km (1.550 mi)
Distance	16 laps / 39.920 km (24.805 mi)
Supporting	2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Simon Evans
Team	Team Asia New Zealand
Time	1:32.618
Fastest Lap
Driver	Katherine Legge
Team	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Fastest Lap	1:32.376 on lap 16
eTrophy Result
First	Second	Third
Simon Evans	Sérgio Jimenez	Bryan Sellers
Winner Team	Team Asia New Zealand
Time	0:25:32.706
eTrophy Guide
Previous		Next
None		2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race

The 2018 Ad Diriyah eTrophy Race, otherwise known as the 2018 FIA Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Ad Diriyah Race, was the inaugural round of the 2018/19 FIA Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, staged at the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit on the 15 December 2018. The race, which was run in support of the 2018 Ad Diriyah E-Prix, would see twelve Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy cars battle around the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit, with teams from Germany, Brazil, China and Saudi Arabia.

Unfortunately the inaugural eTrophy race would not follow its intended schedule, with qualifying having to be cancelled after heavy rain on race day, causing some improvisation to arrange the grid. Ultimately the officials opted to use the times from the free practice session staged the day before, meaning Simon Evans would start from pole with Bryan Sellers alongside, while home racer Bandar Alesayi led the Pro-Am contingent from sixth.

The conditions were still poor as the start time approached, with the officials opting to let the field complete two formation laps to get a good look at the still wet circuit. Regardless, Evans would make the best getaway at the start to slip into an early lead, fending off Sellers into the first corner as the rest of the field piled in behind trouble free.

The early stages would see the top five, all being PRO drivers, pull away from sixth placed Alesayi, who would be doubly harassed by Alice Powell and Katherine Legge in the opening stages. Powell would eventually elbow her way past the local racer, before sprinting off after the lead group.

It was not long before Powell caught the back end of the lead quintet, just arriving in time to see Stefan Rzadzinski tap the back of Cacá Bueno. Bueno just held onto his sideways car, while Rzadzinski would pick up suspension damage from the contact, ultimately causing him to slip to the back of the field.

Out front, meanwhile the top three would engage in a thrilling truel for victory, although Evans would not be overtaken at all in-spite of the combined efforts of Sellers and Sérgio Jimenez. Indeed, his victory was effectively sown up on the penultimate lap, for Jimenez would elbow his way past Sellers at the chicane, and allow Evans to escape a second up the road.

With that the race was run, meaning Evans would collect the first ever eTrophy race victory eight tenths clear of Jimenez and Sellers. Bueno completed the top four, having kept just out of reach of Powell, while Legge was a frustrated sixth having got caught behind the limping Rzadzinski. Alesayi, meanwhile, would collect the honours in the Pro-Am category, well ahead of fellow Pro-Am podium sitters Ahmed Bin Khanen and Tao Wang.

Background

The Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy was first proposed after the arrival of Jaguar in the full FIA Formula E Championship, during the 2016/17 FE season. This ultimately led to a surprise announcement on the eve of the 2017/18 season at the Frankfurt Motor Show, with Alejandro Agag, CEO of Formula E Holdings, and Gerd Mäuser, head of Jaguar Racing, unveiling the new Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy car on the 12 September 2017. The unveiling served as the series launch for the eTrophy, with the FIA listed as the official sanctioning body in what became the first production based electric car racing Championship under their control.

The first tests of the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy car were staged in early 2018, with a series of group tests of potential drivers held in the summer of the same year. Michelin would join the series as the sole tyre supplier before the first tests of the I-Pace, using a different tyre to those used in FE. It was also revealed that racing specialists M-Sport would provide technical and engineering support for the series, preparing each car ahead of the race.

Utilitarian Users

The debuting Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy racer.

The entry list ahead of the inaugural round of the eTrophy proved to be shorter than Jaguar's optimistic hopes of a full twenty car entry, although there would be eleven seats filled before the opening race. The first team to announce their intentions to compete in the series proved to be American sportscar and IndyCar specialists Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing, who duly signed ex-Formula E racer Katherine Legge to lead their effort. The Brit was subsequently joined by veteran racer Bryan Sellers at RLLR, with the pair taking part in the first tests of the eTrophy car in the summer of 2018.

The rest of the field would be made up of Jaguar backed/liveried teams, with regional entries from Germany, Saudi Arabia, Brazil, China and New Zealand/Asia, while the Jaguar squad themselves organised a special "VIP" car for a guest driver. Alice Powell was chosen to be the first Jaguar VIP to take part, reviving her racing career after three years away from racing. A third female racer was to be found in the Viessman backed German entry, with Frenchwoman Célia Martin signed up for the season, racing as the team's only entry in Ad Diriyah.

Elsewhere, Jaguar Brazil committed to two drivers for the season opener, employing Cacá Bueno and Sérgio Jimenez as their team drivers in cars plastered with the Brazilian flag. Team China would also sport two drivers, Tao Wang and Yaqi Zhang listed as their duo, as would the Saudi Arabian team, fielding home racers Bandar Alesayi and Ahmed Bin Khanen. Completing the first XI would be Team Asia New Zealand's lone entry for Simon Evans, the brother of full-time FE racer, and Jaguar factory driver, Mitch.

There was, however, a last minute deal to bring a twelfth I-Pace to the field on the eve of the opening race, with FE team Techeetah announcing that they would revive the old "Tom Wilkinshaw Racing" moniker as they entered the series. The new TWR Techeetah team would field Canadian racer Stefan Rzadzinski at the opening round, with plans to only run a single car for the whole season.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race is displayed below:

2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race Entry List
No.	Name	Class	Entrant	Constructor	Car
0	Cacá Bueno	PRO	Jaguar Brazil Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
1	Alice Powell	G	Jaguar VIP Car	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
3	Katherine Legge	PRO	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
6	Bryan Sellers	PRO	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
7	Célia Martin	PRO/AM	Viessman Jaguar Team Germany	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
8	Tao Wang	PRO/AM	Team China	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
9	Yaqi Zhang	PRO/AM	Team China	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
10	Sérgio Jimenez	PRO	Jaguar Brazil Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
12	Bandar Alesayi	PRO/AM	Saudi Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
18	Stefan Rzadzinski	PRO	TWR Techeetah	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
24	Ahmed Bin Khanen	PRO/AM	Saudi Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
99	Simon Evans	PRO	Team Asia New Zealand	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the Ad Diriyah eTrophy race was set to be staged in between the practice sessions for the Formula E race on Saturday morning, although the miserable conditions ensured that the first FE session was cancelled. That put the eTrophy quali session into doubt as well, and as the rain continued to fall on the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit it came as little surprise that qualifying was cancelled moments before it was set to begin. The organisers therefore based the grid on the times from Friday practice, meaning Simon Evans would start from pole, Bandar Alesayi would head the Pro-Am field from sixth, while Alice Powell would start from seventh in the "Guest" entry.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying results for the 2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race are outlined below:

2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race Qualifying Result*
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
1st	99	Simon Evans	Team Asia New Zealand	1:32.618	—	1
2nd	6	Bryan Sellers	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:32.629	+0.011s	2
3rd	10	Sérgio Jimenez	Jaguar Brazil Racing	1:32.705	+0.087s	3
4th	0	Cacá Bueno	Jaguar Brazil Racing	1:32.994	+0.376s	4
5th	18	Stefan Rzadzinski	TWR Techeetah	1:33.164	+0.546s	5
6th	12	Bandar Alesayi	Saudi Racing	1:33.932	+1.329s	6
7th	1	Alice Powell	Jaguar VIP Car	1:34.216	+1.598s	7
8th	24	Ahmed Bin Khanen	Saudi Racing	1:34.947	+2.329s	8
9th	3	Katherine Legge	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:35.119	+2.501s	9
10th	7	Célia Martin	Viessmann Team Germany	1:35.987	+3.369s	10
11th	8	Tao Wang	China Racing	1:36.407	+3.789s	11
12th	9	Yaqi Zhang	China Racing	1:36.621	+4.003s	12
110% Time: 1:41.879†
Source:

• Positions with a green background are Pro entries. A white background indicates a Pro-Am entry. A black background indicates the Guest entry.
• * The times used to set the grid were taken from free practice after qualifying was cancelled.
• ^† The 110% Time rule was not applied due to the conditions.

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the winner of each class shown in bold:

2018 Diriyah eTrophy Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	99	Simon Evans	Team Asia New Zealand	16	25:32.706	1:32.890	20
2nd	10	Sérgio Jimenez	Jaguar Brazil Racing	16	+0.816s	1:32.725	15
3rd	6	Bryan Sellers	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	16	+1.392s	1:32.719	11
4th	0	Cacá Bueno	Jaguar Brazil Racing	16	+3.613s	1:33.225	8
5th	1	Alice Powell	Jaguar VIP Car	16	+5.575s	1:33.275
6th	3	Katherine Legge	Rahal Letterman Langigan Racing	16	+7.902s	1:32.376	6
7th	12	Bandar Alesayi	Saudi Racing	16	+19.524s	1:33.756	20
8th	24	Ahmed Bin Khanen	Saudi Racing	16	+34.156s	1:34.903	15
9th	8	Tao Wang	China Racing	16	+34.991s	1:34.500	11
10th	9	Yaqi Zhang	China Racing	16	+35.357s	1:34.540	8
11th	7	Célia Martin	Viessmann Team Germany	16	+45.992s	1:34.513	6
12th	18	Stefan Rzadzinski	TWR Techeetah	16	+1:04.842	1:34.118	5
Source:

• Positions with a green background are Pro entries. A white background indicates a Pro-Am entry. A black background indicates the Guest entry.

Milestones

• First Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy race to be staged.
• Simon Evans secured his first eTrophy pole.
• Evans became the first ever winner of an eTrophy race.
• Bandar Alesayi became the first PRO-AM winner at an eTrophy race.

Standings

Simon Evans would, unsurprisingly, lead the PRO Drivers Championship after the opening round, holding a five point lead over Sérgio Jimenez. Bryan Sellers was next, completing the early top three, with Cacá Bueno, Katherine Legge and Stefan Rzadzinski completing the scorers.

In the PRO-AM Championship it was Bandar Alesayi who emerged with the lead after the opening round, leaving with a five point advantage over compatriot Ahmed Bin Khanen. The two Team China drivers Tao Wang and Yaqi Zhang were next, while Célia Martin completed the early quintet. Guest driver Alice Powell was not eligible for Championship points.

 

2018/19 PRO Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Simon Evans 20 ◄0 2nd Sérgio Jimenez 15 ◄0 3rd Bryan Sellers 11 ◄0 4th Cacá Bueno 8 ◄0 5th Katherine Legge 6 ◄0 6th Stefan Rzadzinski 5 ◄0

2018/19 PRO/AM Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Bandar Alesayi 20 ◄0 2nd Ahmed Bin Khanen 15 ◄0 3rd Tao Wang 11 ◄0 4th Yaqi Zhang 8 ◄0 5th Célia Martin 6 ◄0

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

Videos and Images:

• Alexander Migl, 'File:Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy IMG 0841.jpg', commons.wikimedia.org, (WikiMedia: Commons, 13/09/2017), https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jaguar_I-Pace_eTrophy_IMG_0841.jpg, (Accessed 07/12/2018)

References: