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London Formula E: Nelson Piquet Jr wins title, Sam Bird wins race

Nelson Piquet Jr claimed the inaugural Formula E Championship in a dramatic finale in Battersea, won by Sam Bird

Team China Racing driver Piquet pipped Sebastien Buemi by a single point despite starting 10 places behind his nearest championship rival going into the race.

Piquet took seventh position, two places behind Buemi's e.dams entry, to take a championship victory that looked a long shot after the Brazilian qualified only 16th.

Piquet said: "Today was such a hectic race.

"I tried to avoid asking my team any questions and I didn't know that I had won until I cross the line."

The ex-Formula 1 driver gained four places at the start before conserving energy to go at least one lap longer than the rest of the field in his first car.

Piquet rejoined in 10th in his second Spark-Renault SRT_01E and moved into a position to win the championship on lap 23 of 29.

Team-mate Oliver Turvey let Piquet through into ninth position and then the Brazilian passed Salvador Duran around the outside of the fast Turn 13 left-hander to move into eighth, two places behind Buemi.

The move effectively sealed the championship victory for Piquet; the promotion of the championship challengers to fifth and seventh after Stephane Sarrazin, who won the race on the road was penalised for power over-use, had no bearing on the outcome.

Buemi, who had qualified sixth, looked on-course to win the championship until the final stages.

The Swiss driver spun on his out-lap after the car changes with the loss of one position, which ultimately proved crucial.

Buemi got alongside Bruno Senna in an attempt to regain the lost position on the final lap, but ultimately fell short.

The second of the two races on the final weekend of the first season of Formula E was won by Virgin Racing driver Bird.

The Briton ran fourth to the changes of car, then jumped to third and overtook Loic Duval's Dragon entry for second with seven laps to go.

He then hassled Sarrazin over the final laps, but was unable to pass.

The French Venturi driver exceeded his energy allocation in his attempts to stay ahead and was penalised 49 seconds and dropped to 15th in the final results.

RESULTS - 29 LAPS:

Pos Driver Team Gap
1 Sam Bird Virgin 45m48.792s
2 Jerome d'Ambrosio Dragon 6.973s
3 Loic Duval Dragon 9.430s
4 Bruno Senna Mahindra 10.147s
5 Sebastien Buemi e.dams 10.689s
6 Lucas di Grassi Abt 11.204s
7 Nelson Piquet Jr. China 11.561s
8 Salvador Duran Aguri 12.402s
9 Oliver Turvey China 14.142s
10 Nicolas Prost e.dams 14.535s
11 Daniel Abt Abt 23.170s
12 Simona de Silvestro Andretti 24.610s
13 Karun Chandhok Mahindra 31.501s
14 Alex Fontana Trulli 38.423s
15 Stephane Sarrazin Venturi 48.680s
16 Jean-Eric Vergne Andretti 1 Lap
- Nick Heidfeld Venturi Retirement
- Fabio Leimer Virgin Retirement
- Jarno Trulli Trulli Retirement
- Sakon Yamamoto Aguri Retirement

FINAL CHAMPIONSHIP STANDINGS:

Pos Driver Points
1 Nelson Piquet Jr. 144
2 Sebastien Buemi 143
3 Lucas di Grassi 133
4 Jerome d'Ambrosio 113
5 Sam Bird 103
6 Nicolas Prost 88
7 Jean-Eric Vergne 70
8 Antonio Felix da Costa 51
9 Loic Duval 42
10 Bruno Senna 40
11 Daniel Abt 32
12 Nick Heidfeld 31
13 Jaime Alguersuari 30
14 Stephane Sarrazin 22
15 Scott Speed 18
16 Franck Montagny 18
17 Karun Chandhok 18
18 Charles Pic 16
19 Oriol Servia 16
20 Jarno Trulli 15
21 Salvador Duran 13
22 Oliver Turvey 4
23 Vitantonio Liuzzi 2
24 Takuma Sato 2
25 Justin Wilson 1
26 Ho-Pin Tung 0
27 Antonio Garcia 0
28 Simona de Silvestro 0
29 Michela Cerruti 0
30 Marco Andretti 0
31 Matthew Brabham 0
32 Alex Fontana 0
33 Katherine Legge 0
34 Fabio Leimer 0
35 Sakon Yamamoto 0


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