Sam Bird wins in Santiago, moves to 2nd in Formula E championship

British driver Sam Bird (Virgin) won the GP of Santiago, the third of the season, and climbed to second place of the championship in Formula E, the purely electric racing car contest.

Bird, who started in fourth place on the grid on Saturday, finished six-and-a-half- seconds ahead of German Pascal Wehrlein (Mahindra) and more than 14 seconds ahead of German Daniel Abt (Audi), the second and third respectively, reports Efe news.

The Santiago GP, which was held for the second consecutive year, was marked by very high temperatures in the Chilean capital at over 35 degrees Celsius.

The race looked good for Swiss Sebastien Buemi (Nissan), who took the pole position and led the competition for more than twenty minutes, but then had to retire after his car hit the safety barriers.

Bird and Wehrlein then began an exciting duel for first place finally won by the British, who now has 43 points in the overall standings of Formula E, one less than the Belgian Jerome d'Ambrosio (Mahindra), who finished eighth in Santiago.

The fourth round of the championship will take place on February 16 in Mexico City.

--IANS

gau/vm