Da Costa stars for BMW in Ad Diriyah

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BMW i Andretti Motorsport's Antonio Felix da Costa won the very first race of the new season of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Ad Diriyah, Saudi Arabia.

Reigning champion Jean-Eric Vergne finished second and Jerome d'Ambrosio came in third Saturday.

This marked the competitive debut of 22 new Gen2 cars here.

This season, despite the cars lasting the whole length of the race, the introduction of a range of new power modes made the racing more unpredictable as all 22 drivers battled it out to the finish line against the 45-minute ( plus1 lap) race countdown. The focus was on energy management.

Alongside a dramatic new look of the cars, there were wholesale changes to the components underneath the bodywork.

"Formula E broke the mould by being the first to go electric so it's clear we aren't scared of trying new things," said Formula E Founder and CEO Alejandro Agag.

Six fresh faces faced their first Formula E race Stoffel Vandoorne and Gary Paffett for HWA Racelab, Max Gunther for GEOX Dragon, Felipe Massa for the Venturi Formula E Team, Alexander Albon for Nissan e.dams and Alexander Sims for BMW i Andretti Motorsport.

Several other top talents returned to the championship including Robin Frijns for Envision Virgin Racing and Tom Dillmann for the NIO Formula E Team.