Nick Cassidy has claimed his first FIA Formula E World Championship race win despite crashing in the New York E-Prix opener.
In arguably the most chaotic close to a Formula E race, the New Zealander was declared the winner after racing was halted before reaching the chequered flag.
The Envision Racing driver led the lion’s share of proceedings before rain began to belt the street circuit.
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With eight minutes to go, the leaders arrived upon a wall of water just as the full course caution was drawn for inclement conditions.
As the top contenders hit their brakes they began to aquaplane. First, Cassidy lost control of his car, then Lucas Di Grassi slammed into him followed by Stoffel Vandoorne.
Edoardo Mortara grazed the wall on the right but managed to keep his car out of the pile-up.
“They’re all off! They’re all off! There’s four cars off isn’t there? Down at turn six. Cassidy is in,” cried commentator Jack Nicholls.
With Cassidy and company in the wall, Robin Frijns inherited the race lead ahead of Mortara.
Soon enough, the red flag was drawn and racing was brought to a halt to clean up the mess of cars strewn across the course.
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Cassidy would have to wait nearly an hour to learn the race was declared over with the final result taken from the lap prior to the red flag stoppage.
That ensured the Kiwi his first race win even with his car in pieces. Meanwhile, Di Grassi was classified second and Frijns third.
“Obviously, it’s not quite the way we would have liked, but I’m definitely going to take it,” said Cassidy.
“I’ve had some weekends in this championship where I’ve felt very competitive, and it’s not really worked out, and today’s quite the opposite, so I’m really thankful for that.”
Di Grassi declared the crash the biggest of his career, suffering two big hits in the turn six melee.
“The crash today was the strongest crash of my Formula E career and one of the strongest crashes I’ve had in motorsport,” said the Brazilian.
“It was well over 15G but I’m okay and it just shows that when you’re aquaplaning, there’s nothing you can do.
“The rain came, and you could see that the cars were sliding more and more every lap. Thankfully these cars are extremely safe. The car was pretty much destroyed, but that shows how safe these cars are.
“I crashed into Nick at at least 100km/h in a totally standstill car, and then Stoffel crashed into me at a similar speed. I’m very happy with the safety of the car and I’m happy that all the other drivers are also 100 per cent.
“I’m happy that they put the red flag out and they made the decision at the end of the race, and I’m happy with the points but unhappy that the car is completely in pieces. The mechanics will have to work very, very hard to put the car together for tomorrow.”
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Mortara still sits atop the standings, although his lead shrunk after he was given a penalty for speeding under full course caution conditions.
The Swiss driver now holds a five-point advantage over Vandoorne with five races remaining in the season.
The ABB FIA Formula E Championship continues with the second instalment of the New York E-Prix on Monday at 3am AEST.
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