Bryan Sellers has become the first repeat winner of the 2018-19 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy season after the American racer took victory in a shortened race than expected race around the Circuit des Invalides in Paris due to the appalling weather conditions that befell the streets of the French capital.
Sellers led from pole until the race was suspended after just 11-minutes of racing with the TWR Techeetah driver of Stefan Rzadzinski classified in a superb second position, with former championship leader Sergio Jimenez finished the race in third.
After the a clean start to the race, the wet conditions soon proved troublesome for the Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy drivers with Jaguar VIP driver Archie Hamilton coming to blows with Celia Martin after Hamilton braked too late and ended up crashing into the French racer. But while Martin continued, the accident ended Hamilton’s race there and then. This then called the first Safety Car period of the day, and the race soon restarted after Hamilton was pulled out of harms way.
But with the rain turning to hail, the possibility of another accident was not far away, and it soon came…
Thence, the race-ending red flag was called because of barrier repairs needed after Jaguar Brazil Racing driver Caca Bueno picked up a puncture which meant that he was unable to make it around the penultimate corner which meant he had an unscheduled meeting with the barriers on the exit of the corner as a consequence. This also meant that Katherine Legge was shuffled down the order as the British Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing driver was trapped on the outside of the corner.
Sellers was classified the winner after 11-minutes of racing, and will take the championship lead heading to Monaco in two weeks time, but it is likely that half points will be awarded with only half race distance being completed with his closest championship rival Jimenez finishing third ahead of Simon Evans in fourth.
In the Pro-Am category, Ahmed Bin-Khanen got one over his Saudi Racing team-mate Bandar Alesayi after finishing fifth ahead of Celia Martin who finished sixth overall despite her early-race crash with Hamilton.
