2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race

2019 Mexico City E-Prix
The Mexico City E-Prix circuit.
Race Information
Date	16 February 2019
Official Name	2019 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy Mexico City Race
Location	Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez, Mexico City, Mexico
Lap length	2.092 km (1.299 mi)
Distance	20 laps / 41.840 km (25.998 mi)
Supporting	2019 Mexico City E-Prix
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	Katherine Legge
Team	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Time	1:14.210
Fastest Lap
Driver	Bryan Sellers
Team	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Fastest Lap	1:15.516 on lap 12
eTrophy Result
First	Second	Third
Katherine Legge	Bryan Sellers	Sérgio Jimenez
Winner Team	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing
Time	26:17.430
eTrophy Guide
Previous		Next
2018 Ad Diriyah eTrophy Race		2019 Hong Kong eTrophy Race

The 2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race, officially known as the 2019 Jaguar I-Pace Mexico City eTrophy Race, was the second round of the 2018/19 FIA Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy, staged at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, Mexico, on the 16 February 2019. The race, which ran in support of the 2019 Mexico City E-Prix, would see the eTrophy return to the Formula E support bill, having skipped the races in Marrakech and Santiago.

Katherine Legge would claim her maiden pole position in the eTrophy during qualifying, ousting teammate Bryan Sellers by a quarter of a second. The second row would see guest driver Salvador Duran lineup alongside Championship leader Simon Evans, while PRO-Am pole would go to Bandar Alesayi.

Legge duly aced her start to blast into the lead off the line, fending off a challenge from teammate Sellers into turn one. Duran, meanwhile, would beat Evans off the line, before Cacá Bueno elbowed his way past the Kiwi to claim third at turn three.

Duran would be on maximum attack on the opening tour, even challenging second placed Sellers through the stadium section, although his move did not come off in front of his home crowd. That allowed Legge to escape up the road and establish a small lead over the rest of the field, with Sellers only managing to escape Duran's attentions after a FCY was thrown to remove debris from the opening lap.

With that Legge and Sellers were able to pull away from the rest of the field, as collisions at the back removed Célia Martin and Qi Lin from contention. Duran, meanwhile, would see his race ended by a clumsy lunge from Bueno into the final chicane, with the Brazilian forcefully elbowing his way inside the Mexican, only for Duran to break his own steering while trying to scramble back inside Buenos mid-corner.

That chaos would, ultimately, leave the two RLLRs on their own, with Legge able to run for the rest of the race unchallenged to claim her maiden eTrophy victory, and the lead in the Championship. Sellers was half a second away in second, while Jimenez fought back up to third as others around him hit trouble. The honours in PRO-Am, meanwhile, would go to Alesayi, with the Saudi racer also managing to pick his way through the order as accidents and collisions opened the door ahead of him.

Background

The inaugural Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy would link back up with the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Mexico City for its second round, using the same layout of the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez as FE. Indeed, there were no changes to the rules or entry list after the eTrophy's mixed debut in Ad Diriyah, with the wider layout of the Autódromo expected to aid the cars in overtaking, which had proved to be a big issue in Saudi Arabia.

There were some minor changes to the field ahead of the visit to Mexico, with Salvador Duran, an ex-FE racer, getting a run out in the VIP car in place of Alice Powell. Indeed, the Mexican arrived in the eTrophy as the most experienced driver in the field in terms of his exploits with electric vehicles, having competed in 12 ePrix in 2014/15 and 2015/16. Elsewhere, TWR Techeetah revealed their new livery, inspired by the TWR run Jaguar XJR-9 that won the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1988.

Into the Championship and it was Simon Evans who, unsurprisingly, lead the PRO category after claiming victory at 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 had emerged with the lead at 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.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race is displayed below:

2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race Entry List
No.	Name	Class	Entrant	Constructor	Car
0	Cacá Bueno	PRO	Jaguar Brazil Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
1	Salvador Duran	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
9	Yaqi Zhang	PRO/AM	Team China	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
10	Sérgio Jimenez	PRO	Jaguar Brazil Racing	Jaguar	I-Pace eTrophy
11	Qi Lin	PRO/AM	Team China	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 eTrophy race was scheduled for mid-morning, held after the opening practice session for Formula E. The entire twelve car field was to have thirty minutes on track to set their best time, with no divisions between the PRO and PRO-Am entries.

Report

Ultimately the session would be dominated by the two Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing drivers Katherine Legge and Bryan Sellers. Indeed, both Legge and Sellers would spend time during the session on provisional pole, exchanging fastest laps in the high 1:14.000s for twenty minutes, before Legge jumped to a 1:14.210 with ten minutes to go. Sellers tried in vain to match his teammate in the first ever eTrophy qualifying session, eventually falling shy by 0.273s.

Behind the two RLLRs it was Simon Evans who led the charge, ahead of guest driver, and ex-FE racer, Salvador Duran. Cacá Bueno was next, having made a last gasp effort to escape the mire of the PRO-Am field, with Stefan Rzadzinski claiming sixth. Sérgio Jimenez completed the PRO section, half a second off the ultimate pace, while Bandar Alesayi claimed pole in the PRO-Am class.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race are outlined below:

2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race Qualifying Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
1st	3	Katherine Legge	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:14.210	—	1
2nd	6	Bryan Sellers	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	1:14.483	+0.273s	2
3rd	99	Simon Evans	Team Asia New Zealand	1:14.630	+0.316s	3
4th	1	Salvador Duran	Jaguar VIP Car	1:14.630	+0.420s	4
5th	0	Cacá Bueno	Jaguar Brazil Racing	1:14.633	+0.423s	5
6th	18	Stefan Rzadzinski	TWR Techeetah	1:14.648	+0.438s	6
7th	10	Sérgio Jimenez	Jaguar Brazil Racing	1:14.747	+0.537s	7
8th	12	Bandar Alesayi	Saudi Racing	1:15.102	+0.892s	8
9th	9	Yaqi Zhang	Jaguar China Racing	1:15.867	+1.657s	9
10th	24	Ahmed Bin Khanen	Saudi Racing	1:15.877	+1.667s	10
11th	7	Célia Martin	Viessmann Team Germany	1:16.480	+2.270s	11
12th	11	Qi Lin	Jaguar China Racing	1:16.934	+2.724s	12
110% Time: 1:21.631
Source:

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

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.

2019 Mexico City eTrophy Race Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	3	Katherine Legge	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	20	26:17.430	1:15.650	21
2nd	6	Bryan Sellers	Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing	20	+0.404s	1:15.516	15
3rd	10	Sérgio Jimenez	Jaguar Brazil Racing	20	+7.908s	1:15.891	11
4th	0	Cacá Bueno	Jaguar Brazil Racing	20	+24.638s	1:15.809	8
5th	12	Bandar Alesayi	Saudi Racing	20	+38.010s	1:16.310	21
6th	99	Simon Evans	Team Asia New Zealand	20	+38.900s	1:15.629	6
7th	24	Ahmed Bin Khanen	Saudi Racing	20	+39.453s	1:17.330	15
8th	11	Qi Lin	Jaguar China Racing	18	+2 Laps	1:17.613	11
Ret	7	Célia Martin	Viessmann Team Germany	12	Retired	1:18.399
Ret	18	Stefan Rzadzinski	TWR Techeetah	11	Retired	1:18.926
Ret	9	Yaqi Zhang	Jaguar China Racing	6	Retired	1:18.604
Ret	1	Salvador Duran	Jaguar VIP Car	2	Accident	1:27.226
Source:

Milestones

• First Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy race to be staged in Mexico City.
• Salvador Duran and Qi Lin made their eTrophy debuts.
• Maiden eTrophy pole position for Katherine Legge.
• Legge secured her maiden eTrophy victory.
• Bryan Sellers recorded his first fastest lap.
• Second PRO-AM victory for Bandar Alesayi.

Standings

Victory ensured that Katherine Legge headed the PRO Championship after the opening two rounds, although she only held a one-point advantage over the rest of the field. Indeed, no fewer than three drivers were within a point of the Brit, with Simon Evans, Sérgio Jimenez and Bryan Sellers all level on 26 points, although Evans was officially ahead courtesy of his victory in Ad Diriyah.

It was a far simpler picture in the PRO-Am Championship for two victories in two had left Bandar Alesayi in command of the table, the Saudi racer leaving Mexico with an eleven point lead. His teammate Ahmed Bin Khanen was a secure second, with a huge gap back to Tao Wang and Qi Lin, who were tied for third on eleven points. Yaqi Zhang and Célia Martin, meanwhile, failed to score having retired during the race.

 

2018/19 PRO Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Katherine Legge 27 ▲4 2nd Simon Evans 26 ▼1 3rd Sérgio Jimenez 26 ▼1 4th Bryan Sellers 26 ▼1 5th Cacá Bueno 16 ▼1 6th Stefan Rzadzinski 5 ◄0

2018/19 PRO/AM Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Bandar Alesayi 41 ◄0 2nd Ahmed Bin Khanen 30 ◄0 3rd Tao Wang 11 ◄0 4th Qi Lin 11 ▲2 5th Yaqi Zhang 8 ▼1 6th Célia Martin 6 ▼1

Only point scoring drivers and teams are shown.

References

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