Sam Bird extended his run of winning a race in every season since the inception of Formula E with an excellent drive for Jaguar in a thrilling Diriyah E-Prix.
After Nyck de Vries sealed a lights-to-flag victory in race one on Friday, Bird ensured that race two was far more dramatic, coming from third on the grid to take victory following an ongoing battle for the lead with polesitter and former teammate Robin Frijns, who had to settle for second.
The two racers remained within a second of another when the race was red-flagged with two minutes remaining, only for race control to confirm that proceedings would not be restarted, handing Bird the win.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished third on the road following a feisty battle with his teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa, which included the two drivers colliding as the defending champion tried to pass Vergne.
However, Vergne was stripped of his podium after the race for not taking his second attack mode, with Da Costa being promoted to third as a result. Tom Blomqvist and Rene Rast were penalised for the same thing further down the order and Nick Cassidy lost his fifth-place finish for speeding while the race was neutralised.
The Dragon Penske duo of Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Muller finished fourth and fifth, while Oliver Turvey completed an excellent weekend for NIO 333 with another points finish in sixth. Oliver Rowland, Lucas Di Grassi, Nyck de Vries and Pascal Wehrlein rounded out the top 10.
Alex Lynn was taken to hospital after the race having been involved in a collision on track that resulted in the race being red-flagged. His team Mahindra later confirmed that he was discharged and will be able to race with the team in Rome.
Final classification from Round 2 of the #DiriyahEPrix pic.twitter.com/2HcY5QzzAu
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) February 27, 2021