Sam Bird dedicates Punta del Este podium to Henry Hope-Frost

DS Virgin Racing's Sam Bird dedicated his third place finish at the Punta del Este ePrix in Uruguay to the late Motorsport journalist, Henry Hope-Frost, who died earlier this month.

Bird struggled in qualifying in Punta and missed out on Super Pole, starting from ninth on the grid.

The British driver was helped out by a number of incidents in the 37 lap race, with Sebastien Buemi's accident and an unscheduled second pit stop for Daniel Abt promoting Bird into the podium positions. 

While Jean-Eric Vergne and Lucas di Grassi battled it out at the front for the race win, Bird closed in on their battle in the closing stages of the race, although a mistake on the final lap cost the driver any chance of finishing any higher than third.

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“We were a little bit fortunate with Buemi having an issue, getting damage," said Bird.

"I don’t know what happened to Daniel [Abt] in the second stint, but that was again another position gifted to me.

"The pace was good today to be fair, I just wanted these two to fight a little bit more. I ran out of laps but a very strong race, it was nice to get another podium and we needed it from where we started.

"It was damage limitation in the championship as JEV is streaking away as he did an amazing job, and it’s great to see Lucas [di Grassi] back on it too.

"One thing I would like to say is last week, Britain lost an amazing journalist – a great man who brought so much energy and fever to others. It’s not a win, it’s the best I could do, but I would like to dedicate this to Henry Hope-Frost," he added, who passed away earlier in March in a traffic accident when travelling home from Goodwood.