Bethonie WaringCaca Bueno controlled a red flag disrupted race to win the Sanya round of the inaugural Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy.
The Jaguar Brazil Racing driver had built a commanding lead to second placed Simon Evans when Pro-Am driver Tao Wang came to a stop at turn eight, prompting the red flags.
By the time racing resumed, there was six minutes on the clock. Bueno caught Evans napping on the restart and again pulled away from the rest of the field. Despite late improvements from Evans, Bueno finished 1.576s ahead of the Team Asia New Zealand driver to take his first win of the season.
A solid race from Evans puts him at the top of the championship standings, two points ahead of Bryan Sellers, who held on to third in Sanya despite an early challenge from Stefan Rzadzinksi.
Sergio Jimenez, starting fifth after a two place grid penalty, kept the pressure on Rzadzinski in the second half of the race. The pair ran nose to tail for a number of laps before the Brazilian driver was able to get alongside Rzadzinski and hold on to take the position.
In the closing laps, Rzadzinski searched for a way past but, with Katherine Legge also joining the fight, opted not to make a risky move.
Jimenez took fourth, with Rzadzinski coming home fifth for his best finish in the series to date. Legge completed the Pro class after passing Bandar Alesayi on the inside at the hairpin early in the race.
Alesayi took Pro-Am class honours for the third time this season, ahead of Yaqi Zhang and guest driver David Cheng.
Ahmed Bin-Khanen was the final finisher.
Rob Lomas