Sanya ePrix: Vergne beats Rowland to victory

Jean-Eric Vergne has won the Sanya ePrix, but escaped a penalty for not respecting safety car procedure.

Last time out in Hong Kong, the race was decided post-chequered flag as Edoardo Mortara was declared the winner after Sam Bird was handed a penalty after crossing the line in first place.

However, Vergne was only handed a reprimand and maintains his first victory of the season.

The race in Sanya ended under a full course yellow, as Robert Frijns and Lucas di Grassi came together hard at the end of the race.

Oliver Rowland, who started the ePrix from pole position, crossed the line in second place. The Briton held the lead for the opening half of the race before Vergne made the move.

After streaking up the road, he opted to use attack mode which brought Rowland momentarily back into contention for the lead. However, the Frenchman held on to cross the line in first place. 

Antonio Felix da Costa crossed the line in third place, which now promotes him back up to the top of the championship leaderboard. Former leader Sam Bird lost out, retiring from the race early on.

The second Techeetah of Andre Lotterer was fourth, ahead of Daniel Abt and Sebastian Buemi, who had to fight from the back of the field after crashing out in qualifying. 

The two Mahindra's followed in seventh and eighth, with Jerome d'Ambrosio leading teammate Pascal Wehrlein. Mitch Evans was ninth while Edoardo Mortara rounded out the top ten.

There was a slight delay during the race as a red flag was deployed following a crash for Nelson Piquet. The stoppage was called in order for the car to be cleared from the circuit.

Piquet was one of many retirements from the race, as he joined Alexander Sims, Gary Paffett, Jose Maria Lopez, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sam Bird and Felipe Nasr on the sidelines.