Sims goes lights-to-flag for dominant Diriyah FE victory

Alexander Sims scored his maiden Formula E victory in dominant fashion by leading from lights-to-flag in Diriyah on Saturday, heading up a provisional one-two finish for BMW.

Sims charged to his third straight pole position in qualifying earlier in the day, but was able to convert it into his first Formula E win with a convincing display at the front of the field.

Sims built up an early buffer over the field to ensure he could take his Attack Mode boost without losing a position to Techeetah's Antonio Felix da Costa, who battled for second in the opening stint of the race with Audi's Lucas di Grassi.

Two Safety Cars and one Full Course Yellow threatened to put pressure on Sims at the front, but he tactically took his second Attack Mode at the end of the second Safety Car period as confusion behind saw a number of drivers appear to gain places before the race had resumed.

One beneficiary was Maximilian Gunther, who passed three cars nearing the restart, putting his second place finish under investigation. Robin Frijns and Andre Lotterer both received post-race penalties for similar infringements.

Sims was able to pull clear of the field for the final restart en route to his first win of the season, with Gunther taking second ahead of di Grassi.

Mercedes' Stoffel Vandoorne rose from the midfield to take fourth place ahead of Edoardo Mortara, while Oliver Rowland rose to sixth for Nissan e.dams thanks to Lotterer's penalty, dropping the Porsche man from P6 to P16.

Nyck de Vries recovered from 24th in qualifying to finish seventh in the sister Mercedes ahead of Oliver Turvey and Daniel Abt, while James Calado scored his first Formula E point in P10 for Jaguar, having also cashed in on penalties applied after the flag.

Saturday winner Sam Bird retired after a clash with Mitch Evans when battling for fifth in the opening stages of the race.