POOLE’S Sam Bird claimed his first podium finish of the Formula E season in a dramatic day of racing in Marrakesh.

Bird finished third behind Envision Virgin Racing team-mate Robin Frijns after starting the race at the front of the grid.

The 32-year-old suffered a setback in the opening lap when Jean-Eric Vergne hit the rear of his car in an ambitious overtake attempt.

At the halfway stage, Bird had dropped behind the two Andretti drivers, Antonio Felix da Costa and Alexander Sims, colleague Frijns and eventual winner Jerome D’Ambrosio.

With 10 minutes to go, the Andrettis collided to hand Frijns and Bird second and third place, respectively.

Assessing his performance at Morocco’s Circuit International Automobile Moulay El Hassan, Bird said: “I didn’t know too much about the move from Vergne at the start and from there on I suspect it may have caused a slight issue with the car as we didn’t have the pace we had seen earlier.

“Nevertheless, it was an amazing result for the team and we did a great job in qualifying.

“That was down to the hard work and effort by everyone.”

Envision Virgin Racing’s managing director Sylvain Filippi said: “The effort from the whole team has been huge from the prep done beforehand, to the rapid work done to get Sam out for qualifying, and right through to the chequered flag.”

After two rounds of the Formula E season, Bird sits sixth in the driver standings with 18 points.