2016 Marrakesh ePrix

2016 Marrakesh ePrix
Race 2 of 12 of the 2016–17 Formula E Championship
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Race details[1][2]
Date 12 November 2016
Official name 2016 FIA Formula E Marrakesh ePrix[3]
Location Circuit Moulay El Hassan, Marrakesh, Morocco
Course Street circuit
Course length 2.971 km (1.846 miles)
Distance 33 laps, 98.04 km (60.92 miles)
Weather Sunny; Air 21.5 to 22 °C (70.7 to 71.6 °F), Track 25 to 27.8 °C (77.0 to 82.0 °F)
Attendance 7,000
Pole position
Driver Mahindra
Time 1:21.509
Fastest lap
Driver France Loïc Duval Dragon-Penske
Time 1:22.600 on lap 30
Podium
First e.Dams-Renault
Second Virgin-Citroën
Third Mahindra
Lap leaders

The 2016 Marrakesh ePrix (formally the 2016 FIA Formula E Marrakesh ePrix) was a Formula E electric motor race held on 12 November 2016 at the Circuit Moulay El Hassan in Marrakesh, Morocco in front of a crowd of 7,000 people. It was the second round of the 2016–17 Formula E Championship and the first time the series had visited the African continent. The 33-lap race was won by e.Dams-Renault driver Sébastien Buemi, who started from seventh position. Virgin's Sam Bird finished second and Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist was third.

Rosenqvist won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and pulled away from the rest of the field to keep the lead until the mandatory round of pit stops when Buemi led for one lap until he made his stop. Rosenqvist regained the lead but was required to conserve electrical energy because he made a pit stop a lap earlier than other drivers. This allowed Buemi to narrow the time deficit between the two drivers and he passed Rosenqvist for the lead on the 27th lap. Buemi held it for the remainder of the race to win. There were two lead changes among two different drivers during the course of the race.

It was Buemi's second consecutive victory of the season and his eighth in the series. The result increased Buemi's lead in the Drivers' Championship to 22 points ahead of Lucas di Grassi. Buemi's teammate Nico Prost moved from fourth to third, while Rosenqvist's finish moved him to fourth place, and Bird was fifth. e.Dams-Renault expanded their Teams' Championship advantage over Audi Sport ABT and Mahindra Racing by 19 points with ten races left in the season.

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  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference :17 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Morocco to host World Championship of electric cars Formula E". The Moroccan Times. 19 October 2016. Archived from the original on 22 October 2016. Retrieved 12 December 2020.