De Vries claims Valencia Formula E victory in bizarre circumstances

Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries claimed his second Formula E victory of the season as the race in Valencia ended in perplexing circumstances. 

De Vries was running in second behind Antonio Felix da Costa - who had dominated until the final couple of laps of the E-Prix. 

With a total of five Safety Car periods, energy management was the key factor in the closing laps with much of the field running out of energy on the final lap.

The five Safety Car periods led to a 19kWh reduction in energy from each car still running in the E-Prix, leading to a chaotic ending. 

As half of the field didn’t have enough energy on the final lap, this allowed de Vries to take a comfortable second victory of the season as Da Costa dropped back.

Oliver Rowland finished second on track but was disqualified immediately after the end of the race, as did Mahindra's Alexander Sims. 

Nico Müller and Stoffel Vandoorne made most of the carnage to finish second and third respectively. 

Vandoorne had been excluded from qualifying due to a tyre infringement and thus was forced to start from 24th.

The Belgian was running well down the field and his chance of points looked to be over when he picked up a five-second time penalty.

As Müller and Vandoorne had sufficient energy to take the chequered flag, they joined de Vries on the podium. 

Nick Cassidy was fourth ahead of Rene Rast and Robin Frijns. 

Da Costa was classified seventh but will be left to rue his end to the race given he was leading much of it until the final lap.

The Portuguese driver dominated from pole position, building a substantial three-second lead in the early laps before being pegged back due to the various Safety Car stoppages.

Alex Lynn, Sam Bird and Lucas di Grassi completed the points-paying positions.

Come the final classification there were just 12 classified finishers - Jake Dennis and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the top 12.

The race was ultimately defined by the five Safety Car periods.

The E-Prix initially started under the Safety Car due to the rain, while it appeared again shortly after when Andre Lotterer crashed into Sebastien Buemi while battling Venturi's Norman Nato.

Maximilian Günther's off at Turn 2 caused another Safety Car, while a collision between Sergio Sette Camara and Mitch Evans resulted in another one with just over 15 minutes on the clock.

The final Safety Car was deployed with just over five minutes remaining due to a collision between Lotterer and Edoardo Mortara. 

It ended with less than a minute on the clock and by the time the energy levels were adjusted by the stewards - in Formula E, energy levels are compensated for the time spent behind the Safety Car, most of the grid was on the limit and set to run out on the final lap, leading to a bizarre ending to the E-Prix.

Given the chaotic end to the race, it's fair to say this final result is only provisional given some drivers classified in the top 12 didn't have any energy left according to the TV data.

Click here to find the full race results from the Valencia E-Prix (Race 1).