Jean-Eric Vergne romps to win in Chile as Formula E makes its Santiago debut

Jean-Eric Vergne took the race win and the championship lead as Formula E made its Chile debut in Santiago this afternoon. The French driver and teammate Andre Lotterer got through an eventful race to make the Techeetah team the first to achieve a one-two finish in the series' when they finished ahead of Sebastian Buemi. 

Vergne started on pole and led all but one lap to take his first victory of the season after title rivals Sam Bird and Felix Rosenqvist both struggled to get the maximum out of their vehicles during qualifying earlier in the day.

But it was far from straight forward for the eventual winner with an early safety car delaying the race and Buemi and Nelson Piquet Jr among those trying to challenge the race leader.

There was also a radio and internet issue that saw the Chinese-based team unable to communicate with either driver or see some of the on-track action. It may have been for the best as they would have had some nervy moments when their drivers touched five laps from the end.

Luckily for Vergne, none of those events affected his race and he knows there is still a long way to go with seven races left after the visit to Chile. 

He said: "It always feels good to win. It's been very hard work for the team and I've pushed them harder than ever and although some people may have found me pushy, when you see what you can achieve - it is worth it. Hopefully it will make everyone in the team hungrier for success.

"It would be wrong to focus at the championship at the moment because it is won at the end of the season, not now. [This competition] is extremely tough and you need to be on it every time because as soon as you make a small mistake you pay in cash."

Lotterer, who won the Le Mans 24 hour race three times during his spell with Porsche Racing, was the surprise package of the day after qualifying in P3. The 36-year-old admitted that the recent day's testing had left him feeling more comfortable in the car and enabled him to finish on the podium in only his fourth ever race. 

There was more misery for title holder Lucas Di Grassi who is the only driver yet to score a point this season. His day - and most likely his title chances - ended on Lap 22 and the Brazilian did not hold back as he headed towards the paddock, only stopping to take his annoyance out on a camera that he deemed to be in his way. 

The win sees Vergne head to Mexico City as the leader with Rosenqvist and Bird five and ten-points behind him, respectively, after they finished the day in fourth and fifth.