Milestone in Hong Kong

Min Reading Time

Moritz Nöding, March 12, 2019

Moritz Nöding spends much of his time at international race tracks. He is working as Press Officer for motorsports at ZF and is in charge of internal and external motorsport communications for the company.

The Monaco-based Venturi Formula E Team celebrated the 50th Formula E race in style with their first ever race win as Edoardo Mortara took first place at the fifth round of the 2018/19 Formula E Season. This victory also marks the first race win for the all-new ZF electric drivetrain (e-motor, inverter and gearbox). HWA Racelab, the other Formula E team competing with the ZF drivetrain, also impressed in Hong Kong with securing the pole position in qualifying with driver Stoffel Vandoorne and scoring their first points in the race with Gary Paffett coming in P8.

Despite Virgin Racing’s Sam Bird initially celebrating the win with Mortara in second place on the podium, a racing incident penalty for the Brit promoted the Swiss-Italian Venturi driver to first place and heralded a landmark victory for the team. A fantastic weekend was topped off with teammate, Felipe Massa, pushing his way through a tricky race to a strong finish in fifth place.

Consistent performance

Fresh from their season first podium finish in Mexico City, Venturi Formula E Team proved in Hong Kong that the consistency in their recent form is more down to hard work than chance with Swiss-Italian driver, Edoardo Mortara, fighting his way up the grid from sixth position to take the top spot. Regarded as a street track master, Moratara has previous form with winding harbour front track - Season 4 saw him take his first trip to the Formula E podium when he finished second at the Hong Kong ePrix.

“The team have done a brilliant job, they put in all the hours and pull out all the stops.”

— Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Formula E Team driver

Formula E’s first ever official ‘wet race’ resulted in a slippery track with the race featuring three safety cars and a red flag period following multiple crashes.

Mortara´s team mate, Felipe Massa, also put in a solid and steady performance during the race with his best finish so far this season.

“Our first race win and again both cars finishing in the points - this is where we need to be!”

— Felipe Massa, Venturi Formula E Team driver

Taking full advantage of the red flag situation, Massa’s fast working engineering crew were able to quickly fix damage done to the rear of his Venturi VFE-05 allowing the Brazilian driver to continue his fight up the grid from ninth place in qualifying to finish fifth in the final race classification.

In the overall championship ranking, Mortara is now third in the driver´s classification and Venturi is in fourth place of the team classification.