page_title: 2018 Marrakesh ePrix
section_title: Race
hierarchical_section_title: 2018 Marrakesh ePrix / Race
caption_attribution_description: Svenska: Felix Rosenqvist, Hockenheim, DTM 2016 Season Finale
context_page_description: The 2018 Marrakesh ePrix was a Formula E electric car race held at the Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan in the Agdal district of Marrakesh, Morocco on 13 January 2018. It was the third round of the 2017–18 Formula E season and the second Marrakesh ePrix. The 33-lap race was won by Mahindra driver Felix Rosenqvist after starting from third place. Sébastien Buemi finished in second place for e.Dams-Renault and Virgin driver Sam Bird took third.
  Buemi won the pole position by recording the fastest lap in qualifying and maintained his startline advantage heading into the first corner. He held the lead with Bird and Rosenqvist close behind him for much of the first half of the race until a full course yellow flag was necessitated when André Lotterer stopped on track with a hardware failure on his car. Buemi retained the lead after the field made pit stops to switch into a second car but Rosenqvist pressured and passed him with four laps to go. Rosenqvist led the final four laps to clinch his second consecutive victory of the season and the third of his career.
context_section_description: The race started at 16:00 Western European Time (UTC+0) on 13 January. The weather at the start were dry and sunny with the air temperature between 15.05 to 15.8 °C (59.09 to 60.44 °F) and the track temperature 14 °C (57 °F). A special feature of Formula E is the "Fan Boost" feature, an additional 100 kilowatts (130 hp) of power to use in the driver's second car. The three drivers who were allowed to use the boost were determined by a fan vote. For the Marrakesh race, Buemi, di Grassi and Abt were handed the extra power. Chassis manufacturer Spark Racing Technology ordered that Rosenqvist's battery be changed half an hour before the race began after Mahindra were alterted to the problem. Similarly, Buemi began the race in his second car as the one he intended to start in had a water pump failure. Audi undertook a precautionary power inverter change in di Grassi's car. Turvey and d'Ambrosio started from the pit lane because of technical problems with their respective cars. Buemi made a clean start to retain the lead heading into the first corner as Bird and Rosenqvist maintained second and third. Both ran close behind Buemi as most drivers also made clean starts. Mortara made contact with another car further down the field.
  Vergne moved from 13th to 10th by the end of the first lap, while d'Ambrosio's pit lane start lost him four positions over the same distance. At the end of the first lap, Buemi led Bird, Rosenqvist, López, di Grassi, Lynn, Abt, Piquet, Evans and Vergne. At the start of lap two, Abt lined up an overtake on Lynn for sixth place on the start/finish straight and both drivers made contact into the first turn. Lynn was spun onto the run-off area, and re-joined the track in 19th. Meanwhile, Piquet had moved to fifth place, while his fellow countryman di Grassi passed López for fourth by forcing this way through. Shortly after López fell to seventh when Piquet and Abt passed him on lap three. Prost was sent into a spin by Lotterer, dropping to 19th. Turvey was the main beneficiary of the incident, moving to 15th place. Di Grassi and his Brazilian compatriot Piquet battled for fourth position and it ended when di Grassi slowed with a battery management system failure. He drove off the racing line and Audi instructed him to stop his car. Di Grassi attempted a restart procedure, prompting the waving of localised yellow flags. He returned to his garage to retire. After the race, di Grassi explained his car started to cut out on the previous lap.
  Meanwhile, his teammate Abt overtook Piquet for fourth but was issued a drive-through penalty for his earlier contact with Lynn. Abt exited the pit lane behind Lynn in 15th place as Turvey moved to tenth. Multiple incidents occurred in the middle of the pack: Filippi and Mortara made contact and Félix da Costa hit Heidfeld who angrily gesticulated to the latter. Vergne was sixth and his teammate Lotterer 13th. The problems affecting the Audi pair of di Grassi and Abt promoted López to fourth. On the 16th lap, Bird slowed briefly with gearbox issues on the start/finish straight, allowing Rosenqvist to take second. On the same lap, Lotterer steered off the racing line to retire with a hardware malfunction that locked his brakes. Course officials waved yellow flags at the section of the track Lotterer stopped at for half a minute until the race director decided a full course yellow was necessary.
  The leaders elected to make their pit stops to change into their second cars during the full course yellow. Buemi kept the lead with his advantage over Rosenqvist increasing to 1​¹⁄₂ seconds. Piquet returned to fourth ahead of López and Vergne moved to fifth. The Venturi pair of Mortara and Engel exited the pit lane in the top ten. Evans, Félix da Costa and Abt lost half a minute of time because they made their pit stops before the activation of the full course yellow procedure. Turvey was the race's third retirement after a technical problem affected his second car. Upfront, the lead trio of Buemi, Rosenqvist and Bird were close behind one another and distanced themselves from the r
caption: Felix Rosenqvist (pictured in 2016) passed Buemi to secure his third career victory and his second in a row.
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