(CNN) Finally, the streak is over. After the first eight races of the 2018-19 Formula E championship produced eight different race winners, Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne became the first driver to record a second victory of the season after leading from pole to win the Monaco E-Prix. Vergne, who was also victorious in Sanya in March, held off late pressure from British driver Oliver Rowland having controlled the race from the very start. It means the defending champion moves to the top of the overall standings with four races remaining this season. "I've never won this one before so I'm happy," said the Techeetah driver after the race. "It's been a difficult season, lots of ups and downs but these kind of wins make it all worth it." Read More<doc-sep>Evans had been due to start second after finishing third in qualifying thanks to Oliver Rowland’s three-place grid penalty for causing a crash during the last race in Paris, costing the Nissan e.dams driver the top spot on the grid. But even before Super Pole had been completed, it was announced that the Evans was under investigation for a possible procedural infraction during that phase of qualifying. After a post-qualifying investigation, Evans was found to have “switched to maximum power prior to the last sector,” according to an FIA bulletin, which is a breach of article 33.3a of FE’s 2018/18 sporting regulations. “The stewards received data from the technical delegate that the driver of car 20 [Evans] used up to 250kW for approximately 0.4 seconds prior to the beginning of the last sector,” the FIA document continued. “The stewards heard from the driver who explained that this was his mistake. “The stewards understand that this regulation is in place for reasons of battery longevity on this circuit. This early usage of maximum power does not lead to a performance advantage for the car on its fastest lap. “Accordingly, the stewards feel that a sporting penalty is inappropriate in these circumstances.” But this was the third time in 2018/19 that Evans has been given a reprimand, which triggered an automatic 10-place grid drop. Evans will therefore start 12th, with Mahindra's Pascal Wehrlein promoted to second alongside polesitter Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah). Nissan driver Rowland will now start third. Revised starting grid:<doc-sep>Rowland, who won the 2017 Formula 2 feature race on his last competitive outing in Monaco, set a best time of 49.847s in the 30-minute FP2 session. He ended up 0.123s clear of reigning champion and DS Techeetah driver Jean-Eric Vergne. The 45-minute FP1 session – which was topped by Audi’s Lucas di Grassi – took place in sunny early morning conditions, before clouds gathered over Monaco ahead of second practice. Andre Lotterer and Rowland enjoyed short spells at the top early in FP2 before Vergne moved in front and stayed in first place for the majority of the session. The FP2 times remained slower than in first practice until the dying minutes of the second session, with BMW Andretti’s Antonio Felix da Costa opening a flurry of fast full power laps that eventually brought the quickest times of the day so far. After da Costa, Felipe Massa and Alexander Sims went quickest, di Grassi moved to the head of the FP2 times with a 50.051s before he was edged out by Jaguar’s Alex Lynn. Vergne then briefly retook the top spot before Rowland established himself as the practice pacesetter with two minutes of FP2 remaining. Lotterer ended up third ahead of Lynn and di Grassi, who spun to the inside of Sainte Devote as he prepared for his final flying lap. Pascal Wehrlein finished sixth in the FP2 for Mahindra Racing to demote Sims and Massa to seventh and eighth. Daniel Abt and Sam Bird rounded out the top 10 for Audi and Envision Virgin Racing. Da Costa ended up being shuffled down to 12th. Dragon Racing driver Maximilian Gunther, still standing in for Felipe Nasr, picked up a 10-place grid penalty for the Monaco race after FP1, as he was found to have been speeding during a full course yellow in the opening session. That infraction earned him a third reprimand of the season and triggered the 10-place grid penalty. Rowland’s Nissan teammate Sebastien Buemi had two trips down the Turn 3 escape road during FP2. He wound up 21st, 1.329s slower than Rowland. First practice results: Second practice results:<doc-sep>Da Costa has been disqualified for running in too high a power mode in the closing stages, while Abt has been handed a 33-second penalty in lieu of a drive-through penalty for contact with NIO driver Oliver Turvey. The decisions mean da Costa has lost his sixth-place finish for BMW Andretti, while Abt has dropped from eighth to 15th in the final standings. Da Costa explained that the reason he was in the higher power mode was because he accidentally hit a button on his steering wheel following contact with Jaguar’s Mitch Evans on the penultimate lap. In footage seen by Motorsport.com, but was not broadcast by the world feed during the race, the incident occurs seconds after Evans also appears to hit Envision Virgin Racing driver Sam Bird and apparently causes the puncture that dropped Bird down from sixth place on the final lap of the race. “I was going round the corner and Evans braked super late, hit me, forced me off the track and – when he hit me – I lost the steering wheel and hit the power rotary and went to the 225 mode,” da Costa told Motorsport.com before the penalties were announced. “I had it for a full lap, until the guys saw it and I went back to the 200kW mode. I didn’t gain anything, but I got hit, lost the position and will get a penalty for that. “What I told the stewards is: ‘Look, we’ve had drivers that make mistakes, take people out of the race and they get three-place grid penalties, five-place grid penalties; please just consider this against worse cases’.” Abt told Motorsport.com that “it was a weird incident [with Turvey] actually. The full course yellow came out, Turvey was in front of me. There was five seconds to slow down and reach the 50kph and he just didn’t take that much and he fully braked in the first moment, which I wasn’t expecting, because you basically give away three seconds [doing that], which is a lot of time. “So yeah, he braked and because I was so close I had to react and I braked as hard as I could but still hit him in the back. By hitting him, I think he got a puncture.” Turvey retired as a result of the collision with Abt. When asked about his race by Motorsport.com, Evans said: “It was mayhem, to be honest. A lot of carnage. Some [drivers] were more aggressive than others, some dropped out because they were too hard on energy. “Some experienced guys I was not expecting [it to be] like that. I was in the mix of it, got caught out and benefitted from some others. We came home with a nice result.” Bird told Motorsport.com that “Mitch hasn’t meant to [give me a puncture]. Contact happens in these cars and that’s just how it is. But with the rear wheels being open this year, and with contact inevitable in this series, if somebody has got a sharp bit of front wing, and you lean on someone’s rear wheel – even if you don’t mean too – you will give them a puncture. “That’s exactly what’s happened to me with a lap and half to go and it’s ruined the race.” Robin Frijns has been given a five-place grid penalty for his clash with Sims at St Devote late in the race. They clashed at the right-hander, with Frijns retiring on the spot, while Sims was able to drive away and eventually finished 13th following Abt’s penalty. Frijns’s penalty will be applied at the next FE race in Berlin.<doc-sep>
DS Techeetah driver Vergne maintained the advantage at the start from Mahindra's Pascal Wehrlein, who lost ground by running wide at Sainte-Devote in the early stages. Wehrlein dropped behind Oliver Rowland and Felipe Massa as a result, and the top four ran in that formation the remainder of the race distance. Vergne was forced to rebuff a passing attempt from Nissan's Rowland into Turn 3 on the penultimate lap, and held on to secure his second win of the 2018/19 campaign by 0.201s. Massa survived late contact with Wehrlein to take the final spot on the podium for Venturi. Sebastien Buemi was fifth in the second Nissan, followed by BMW's Antonio Felix da Costa, who was sixth after teammate Alexander Sims moved aside just before half-distance. The Portuguese driver, who had tried to pass Buemi before settling for position, is under investigation for using more power than allowed. Jaguar's Mitch Evans recovered to seventh after his 10-place grid drop, sealing the position on the penultimate lap after overtaking Envision Virgin's Sam Bird - who fell to 17th right at the end when he picked up a puncture and stopped by the inside wall at Rascasse. Audi's Daniel Abt is also under investigation following an incident with NIO's Oliver Turvey but is provisionally eighth. Techeetah's Andre Lotterer rose through the field from 20th to take ninth following a scrappy group one lap in qualifying and benefitted from an attritional midfield battle. Lucas di Grassi was forced out of the race just past the midway point when Sims moved to the outside at Turn 3 in a bid to pass Bird and forced the Audi driver into the outside wall. Virgin's miserable race was compounded further when pre-race points leader Robin Frijns was squeezed into the barrier by Sims approaching Sainte-Devote. Jaguar's Alex Lynn rounded out the top 10 despite losing the front-right wheel cover following contact that lost him several places at half-distance. Vergne retakes the lead of the points standings as a result of his win, five points ahead of Andre Lotterer, while Frijns has dropped from first to third. Race results: