HONG KONG E-PRIX: VENTURI FORMULA E TEAM CELEBRATES FIRST RACE WIN WITH MORTARA IN HONG KONG

10 March 2019, Hong Kong – The Monaco-based VENTURI Formula E Team celebrated the 50th Formula E race in style with their first ever race win as Edoardo MORTARA took first place at the fifth round of the 2018/19 Formula E Season.

Despite Envision Virgin Racing’s Sam BIRD initially celebrating the win with MORTARA in second place on the podium, a racing incident penalty for the Brit promoted the Swiss-Italian VENTURI driver to first place and heralded a landmark victory for the team. A fantastic weekend was topped off with teammate, Felipe MASSA, pushing his way through a tricky race to a strong finish in fifth place.

CONSISTENT PERFORMANCE Fresh from their season first podium finish in Mexico City, VENTURI Formula E Team proved in Hong Kong that the consistency in their recent form is more down to hard work than chance with Swiss-Italian driver, Edoardo MORTARA, fighting his way up the grid from sixth position to take the top spot. Regarded as a street track master, MORTARA has previous form with winding harbour front track - Season 4 saw him take his first trip to the Formula E podium when he finished second at the Hong Kong ePrix. Formula E’s first ever official ‘wet race’ resulted in a slippery track with the race featuring three safety cars and a red flag period following multiple crashes. MORTARA’S team mate, Felipe MASSA, also put in a solid and steady performance during the race with his best finish so far this season. Taking full advantage of the red flag situation, MASSA’s fast working engineering crew were able to quickly fix damage done to the rear of his VENTURI VFE-05 allowing the Brazilian driver to continue his fight up the grid from ninth place in qualifying to finish fifth in the final race classification. QUOTES “The result today is fantastic!!! Fourth in Santiago, third in Mexico, now my first victory in Hong Kong! I’m so proud and finding out that I had won was an incredible feeling for me. The race was awesome and I've had a wonderful weekend - historically racing in Asia brings me so much luck - honestly, I’m over the moon and I couldn’t be happier. The team have done a brilliant job, they put in all the hours and pull out all the stops - this result is a tribute to their hard work. We started from quite far back this season but the guys are doing such an amazing job and improving race by race. This result is for them - I know that it will motivate them even more and I can’t wait to get back out on the track.” Edoardo MORTARA, VENTURI Formula E Team driver “Again another action filled race where so much happened. First and foremost, I am absolutely delighted for the team, Edo’s result is incredible and I am very happy for him. My race had a fantastic start and I gained two positions then a racing incident resulted in me losing several positions and damage to the rear of my car. Fortunately we had the red flag and managed to fix the problem with the suspension. The mechanics did a fantastic job to repair it so quickly and after the restart  the race was great. I managed to save the battery in a great way at the beginning, I had great race pace and I managed to overtake a few guys. P5 today is my best result so far but I still have in my mind that it could have been even better. Anyway, I'm so happy for the team - our first race win and again both cars finishing in the points - this is where we need to be!” Felipe MASSA, VENTURI Formula E Team driver “Our first race victory marks a really important milestone for the team, our President, Gildo PASTOR, has put a lot of faith and trust in us and to have delivered this victory for him is a proud moment for all of us. Both drivers did a great job this weekend, and the team capitalised on all the opportunities in the race. We were really lucky that we had the red flag so we could repair Felipe's car and credit to him for his fantastic recovery and P5 finish. We definitely benefited from others misfortune this weekend but that’s racing, it can be brutal and we have had our fair share of tough moments already this season, today is a very special day - I will be leaving Hong Kong one very happy Team Principal.”  Susie WOLFF, VENTURI Formula E Team Principal Sanya (People's Republic of China) will play host to the sixth round of the ABB Formula E Championship on Saturday March 23rd 2019.