Formula E brought us another spectacular race with Swede almost not entering the race after the battery fail on his car.

After first two races of the new, fourth season of Formula E championship, held by Hong Kong in the middle of December last year, drivers moved to the west in Africa, where Moulay El Hassan international racetrack in Marrakech, Morocco held the third race of the season. And it looks like the man of this season and the one to bet on for the next championship title – although we are still at the beginning of the season – was Swedish driver Felix Rosenqvist, who won his second race in a row.

It was not everything as easy as it sounds thou. Rosenqvist and his team, Mahindra racing had a lot of troubles through the whole weekend so he has already settled down with being somewhere in the middle of the standings at the end of the race. However, situation proved to be quite different on Sunday and after changing the battery just thirty minutes before the race. "I was told I had to change my battery thirty-minutes before jumping in the car before the grid, so I was praying that my second car would be ready. Big thanks to the Mahindra guys," said Swede after the end.

Second place after the race was taken by Sebastian Buemi, who started the race from Julius Baer pole position and for a while proved to be a match for Rosenqvist. Him too had some trouble prior to the race, because of faulty water pump, so Renault engineers had to switch his first and second car in order to gain some time to fix the problem. Luckily it was enough and Buemi managed to stay in front of Sam Bird, whose car's rear end was unstable back from Hong Kong, so he was not able to push it as fast as he could.

Troubles, however continue for current world champion, who, after managing to achieve only 14th and 17th place on races in Hong Kong, now ended the race with a broken car after just seven laps, getting third consecutive 'zero points' and already has 54 points gap to Rosenqvist, who is now the leader in the championship. After getting over the finish line on third place, Sam Bird slipped to second place with four points gap to Swede, while third place is held by Jean-Eric Vergne, who on yesterday's race came in fifth.

2018 ABB FIA Formula E Marrakesh E-Prix (Rd 3)

1 - Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing, 48:04.751s (25)
2 - Sebastien Buemi, Renault e.dams, +0.945s (21)
3 - Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing, +5.762s (15)
4 - Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +6.554s (13)
5 - Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH, +12.238s (10)
6 - Jose Maria Lopez, DRAGON, +16.491s (8)
7 - Nick Heidfeld, Mahindra Racing, +28.381s (6)
8 - Tom Blomqvist, Andretti Formula E, +32.380s (4)
9 - Alex Lynn, DS Virgin Racing, +33.520s (2)
10 - Daniel Abt, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, +40.951s (1)
11 - Mitch Evans, Panasonic Jaguar Racing, +46.278s
12 - Maro Engel, Venturi Formula E Team, +46.915s
13 - Nico Prost, Renault e.dams, +53.099s
14 - Antonio Felix da Costa, Andretti Formula E, +1:01.116s
15 - Jerome D'Ambrosio, DRAGON, +1:13.805s
16 - Luca Filippi, NIO Formula E Team, +1 Lap
17 - Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team, +3 Laps

DNF - Oliver Turvey, NIO Formula E Team, 17 Laps
DNF - Andre Lotterer, TECHEETAH, 14 Laps
DNF - Lucas di Grassi, ABT Schaeffler Audi Sport, 7 Laps

Driver standings

Felix Rosenqvist, Mahindra Racing – 54
Sam Bird, DS Virgin Racing – 50
Jean-Eric Vergne, TECHEETAH – 43
Nelson Piquet Jr, Panasonic Jaguar Racing – 25
Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E - 24

Jure Šujica
Photo: FIA

Jan. 14, 2018 Driving photo: Fia

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