Turbulent Paris race

Den sixth round of Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY was run on the streets of Paris.

Bryan Sellers had taken Pole Position in front of Caca Bueno, Stefan Rzadzinski, Sergio Jimenez, Katherine Legge and Simon Evans.

Jimenez was leading the championship prior to the weekend, but with only a few points between the drivers we could get a new championship leader on Saturday afternoon.

The VIP driver of the weekend was British racing driver Archie Hamilton, who had qualified in P9.

The asphalt was dry at the start of the race, but rain clouds were looming in the horizon.

Sellers was quick to close the door on the way to Turn 1, while Legge had a fantastic overtake on the outside of Sergio Jimenez and took P4.

Celia Martin in the Pro-Am category had done a really good start and was up to second place, after Ahmed Bin-Khanen.

Hamilton was a bit impatient and attempted a hopeless overtaking manoeuvre, which cost him a front bumper, but luckily there was no damage on Celia Martin’s car, who was the driver being attacked.

All the debris must be cleaned up, so it gave a Full Course Yellow in a couple of minutes before the race got restarted.

In the meantime, showers started to fall over the track and it only rained harder and harder with every minute.

Stefan Rzadzinski had a big slide but he could regain control of the car before it hit the wall.

Legge’s car brushed the concrete wall a little, but it was only the rear end of the car, which made her rear bumper hanging and flapping in the wind.

The race director chose to send out the Safety Car when hail started to fall down.

When the race got restarted, there was chaos on the track. Both Rzadzinski and Bueno clipped the wall on the way out to the straight, and it created drama down the field, where Legge tried to overtake the two slower cars. Unfortunately Bueno’s car was punctured and continued straight in Turn 1, ending up in the barrier with Legge getting caught on the outside. Such a shame for her, since she was about to take second place.

Instead, the order was Sellers, Rzadzinski, Jimenez and Evans, while Legge was the last Pro driver in the field, but she was behind the entire Pro-Am group.

The clean-up took too long that the race director then chose to stop the race.

While the Pro podium consisted of Bryan Sellers, Stefan Rzadzinski and Sergio Jimenez, it was Ahmed Bin-Khanen who won Pro-Am, ahead of Celia Martin and Yaqi Zhang.

Bryan Sellers is now leading the Pro championship, in front of Sergio Jimenez and Simon Evans, while Katherine Legge has lost a lot of points in fourth place.

Bandar Alesayi continues to lead the Pro-Am championship, even though Ahmed Bin-Khanen is now eleven points closer after this weekend. Yaqi Zhang is P3, with a nice gap to Celia Martin in P4.

The next round of Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY will be run on the streets of Monaco on 11 May 2019.