Nelson Piquet Jr took a commanding first Formula E win on the streets of Long Beach to become the series’ sixth winner in six races.

The Brazilian took the lead by catching pole-sitter Daniel Abt by surprise into the tight first chicane on lap one, and from there he was always in control of the race.

His early lead was wiped out twice due to the safety car being called, but Piquet was able to build the gap again at each restart, going on to take victory 35 years on from his father’s maiden Formula 1 win at the same venue.

Piquet survived a brief scare mid-race when he misunderstood a radio message telling him to coast more into corners, but he thought he was being told not to coast so he started pushing and putting more strain on his battery before backing off in the closing stages.

Abt was one of the first frontrunners to pit at the start of lap 22, but his strategy did not pay off as he lost out to Jean-Eric Vergne for second during the stops.

The German was no match for Vergne, so his attention turned to defending from team-mate Lucas di Grassi, which allowed Sebastien Buemi to catch them both.

Abt was eventually removed from the battle when he was given a drive-through penalty for using too much power, dropping him out of contention for points.

Di Grassi made use of the clear track to prevent Buemi – who was dropped from pole position to 10th on the grid due to a penalty – attacking for the final podium spot.

The top five was completed by Bruno Senna, who made use of stopping a lap later than most of the frontrunners to climb from the lower reaches of the top 10.

Senna initially had to fight with Nicolas Prost when he came out of the pits, but the Frenchman’s race – which was not going well already before that point – fell apart when he was given a drive-through penalty for hitting Jerome d’Ambrosio at the hairpin on lap 21.

It completed a bad day for Prost, who started on the front row but was bullied down the order, first by Vergne and di Grassi after the first restart – caused by Scott Speed crashing out of sixth at the first chicane.

Buemi and da Costa then picked him off at the second restart (after Charles Pic hit Jarno Trulli at the final corner), and Prost – who led the championship coming into this race – came to blows with d’Ambrosio seven laps later as they fought over sixth place.

Prost complained after the race of a lack of power, something that was backed up by team-mate Buemi, who said that battery issues robbed him of straightline speed.

RESULTS

Piquet Jr dominates Long Beach ePrix