Sebastien Buemi clinched victory at the 2016/2017 Formula E season-opener in Hong Kong, after starting from fifth on the grid.
The French driver moved up to fourth on the opening lap, before displacing Oliver Turvey and moving into a podium position.
Pole-sitter Nelson Piquet Jr. lost the lead after going straight on avoidance of the crashed DS Virgin Racing car of Jose Maria Lopez, giving Buemi another place.
Renault e.dams opted to pit the reigning Formula E champion under the safety car, moving into the lead when Sam Bird pitted later on and suffered a problem leaving the garage.
Buemi held off his 2015/2016 title rival Lucas di Grassi by 2.5 seconds to claim victory in the first round of the new season.
Abt driver di Grassi had started at the back of the field after a crash in qualifying and suffered damage on lap one after the tight second corner caused a chain reaction.
He made steady progress up the order and gained time with the safety car, having earlier pitted for a new front wing, to finish second.
Nick Heidfeld also made a move up the order from 10th on the grid to finish in third place, ahead of Nicolas Prost and Antonio Felix da Costa.
Robin Frijns was sixth in the second Andretti car, with Jerome d’Ambrosio, Turvey, Maro Engel, and Stephane Sarrazin completing the top 10.
Piquet finished down in 11th, with Bird crossing the line behind Adam Carroll’s Jaguar in 13th. Loic Duval was 14th, with Felix Rosenqvist 15th after a spin damaged his car during the race. Both were two laps down.
Daniel Abt, Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans retired mid-way through the race, joining Lopez and Ma Qing Hua – the Chinese racer crashed into Prost on the opening lap.
Formula E 2016/2017: Hong Kong – Race Result
| Pos | Driver | Team | Gap | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Sebastien Buemi | Renault e.Dams | 25 | |
| 2 | Lucas di Grassi | ABT Schaeffler Audi | 18 | |
| 3 | Nick Heidfeld | Mahindra Racing | 15 | |
| 4 | Nicolas Prost | Renault e.Dams | 12 | |
| 5 | Antonio Felix da Costa | Andretti | 10 | |
| 6 | Robin Frijns | Andretti | 8 | |
| 7 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Faraday Future Dragon Racing | 6 | |
| 8 | Oliver Turvey | NextEV Nio | 4 | |
| 9 | Maro Engel | Venturi | 2 | |
| 10 | Stefan Sarrazin | Venturi | 1 | |
| 11 | Nelson Piquet | NextEV Nio | 0 | |
| 12 | Adam Carroll | Jaguar Racing | 0 | |
| 13 | Sam Bird | DS Virgin Racing | 0 | |
| 14 | Loic Duval | Faraday Future Dragon Racing | 0 | |
| 15 | Felix Rosenqvist | Mahindra Racing | 2 | |
| 16 | Daniel Abt | ABT Schaeffler Audi | 0 | |
| 17 | Jean-Eric Vergne | Techeetah | 0 | |
| 18 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar Racing | 0 | |
| 19 | Jose Maria Lopez | DS Virgin Racing | 0 | |
| 20 | Ma Qing Hua | Techeetah | 0 |