A story of cancelled qualifying, delayed race and many punctures: it wasn't the luckiest day in the cockpit for Alice Powell in Mexico City.
It wasn´t the start of the weekend the fans of the Jaguar iPace eTrophy had wished for. Following a huge crash by Daniel Abt (driver ok) in the Formula E first free practice, which had moved all three layers of Tecpro and the wall behind, track repairs forced the qualifying session to be cancelled. The starting grid was then set up accordingly to the first practice session results, which meant that Sergio Jimenez took pole position and Alice Powell had to line up in fourth place.
The race was further postponed after the Formula E ePrix, in order to protect the track's surface which had been re-laid. The wait begun.
After an exciting Formula E race, the start of the Jaguar iPace eTrophy was a clean one and the top-three drivers defended their positions. In the mid-field, newcomer driver Takuma Aoki managed to pass some of the competition.
The second lap was then interrupted by a Safety Car phase, as David Cheng and Bal Hejaila crashed into each other heavily: both were out of the race, unhurt.
But another curse was awaiting British racing star Alice Powell, who started from the second row and was sitting comfortably in fourth: two punctures affected the Ran Racing driver and effectively compromised her race. Alice and series returnee Caca Bueno finished one lap down the eventual race winner Sérgio Jimenez.
Jimenez and Simon Evans had a close fight until the end: with five minutes left to the chequered flag, Evans activated his second attack mode and passed Jimenez. But one lap later, the Brazilian returned the favor, pulling ahead and finishing the race in first place ahead of Evans and a suprising third-placed Mario Dominguez, the first ever VIP driver to finish a championship race on the podium. British lady Abbie Eaton was the previous record holder with the fourth place finish obtained in Saudi Arabia.
Despite a frustrating race for Alice Powell (28 points), the 27-year old girl still defends her third place in the Pro-Class standings behind Jimenez (57 points) and Evans (51 points).
Following the cancellation of the Sanya ePrix in China, the next Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy round will be held in Rome, Italy, on 4th April.
In Alice´s words:
"What a mad day. Started P4, got a good start, however, got a puncture on lap 2. I set fastest lap soon after coming back out, but I was already a lap down..Then...ANOTHER PUNCTURE! So frustrating. There was a total of 8 punctures in the race. I finished P7, still P3 in the Champ"