(Reuters) – Mercedes’s Stoffel Vandoorne took over at the top of the electric Formula E championship on Sunday after a double-header in New York.
Antonio Felix da Costa took his first win of the season for DS Techeetah on Sunday, after New Zealander Nick Cassidy took his first win in the series for Envision on Saturday, with Belgian Vandoorne fourth and second respectively.
The points haul sent former McLaren Formula One driver Vandoorne 11 clear of Venturi’s Swiss racer Edoardo Mortara while Mercedes now lead the team standings.
Da Costa inherited Sunday’s pole position from Cassidy, who was sent to the back of the field with an additional drive-through penalty after overnight repairs triggered a 30-place grid drop.
Vandoorne had been 13 points adrift of Mortara after Saturday’s race but, hours later, the gap was shortened to five when a penalty dropped the Swiss from fifth to ninth for going too fast while yellow warning flags were being waved.
Mortara then finished 10th in Sunday’s race, albeit with a bonus point for fastest lap.
New Zealander Mitch Evans is third overall, five points behind Mortara after finishing third on Sunday for the Jaguar team.
Four rounds remain, with the next two races in London on July 30-31 before the closing double-header in Seoul in mid-August.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
