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Portuguese Antonio Felix da Costa held off a late charge from defending world champion Jean-Eric Vergne to win the opening race of the Formula E season in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.
The BMW Andretti driver just held off Vergne after a safety car saw the race bunched up in the closing stages in Ad Diriyah.
Da Costa started from pole but slipped behind the Frenchman, before Vergne took a pit penalty for overusing power.
Vergne took second with Jerome d’Ambrosio third, while Felipe Massa finished 14th on his Formula E debut.
Oliver Rowland was the highest-finishing of the five British drivers in seventh, followed by Sam Bird in 11th.
“It’s a great day for me, BMW and the whole team,” said Da Costa. “Thank you to everybody! I’m delighted – for me, that I’m back at the top of the podium again after such a long time, but primarily for the team. We have always had the same goal, to get to this point, and each of us gave it our all.
“Days like this make it clear: It’s worth all the effort! Many thanks to everyone who played their part in this win. But we still have a lot of work to do. Vergne was incredibly fast, it was really close at the end, and my heart rate went through the roof. But in the end, I did enough.
“It’s amazing, it’s been tough, it’s been long months of work and I am really happy with that.”
Da Costa set the early pace, despite a messy start from pole where the Portuguese driver overshot his starting position and began the race at an angle.
Vergne produced a smart overtake with 26 of the 45-minutes plus one lap race to go, but the TECHEETAH driver dropped back after being handed a drive-through penalty.
Da Costa, Massa, Stoffel Vandoorne, Lucas di Grassi and Daniel Abt were the top five drivers to receive a fan boost, as voted for by viewers using an app to determine who gets some extra power during a race.
The new Attack Mode also saw drivers take additional risks by moving off the racing line and on to a different area of the track, where the mode is activated to provide the car with a temporary power boost.
A yellow flag with 10 minutes remaining saw leader Da Costa reeled back in, producing a flat-out finish after the race restarted with three minutes on the clock.
Da Costa activated his Attack Mode off the back of the safety car to quickly re-open a two-second lead and then just about held off a resurgent Vergne.
Jens Marquardt, BMW motorsport director, said: “This is the first race for our BMW i drivetrain, and it led us to our first pole position and first win … it’s just incredible! Big thanks go to the entire development team of BMW i and BMW Motorsport in Munich.
“Together we did an incredible job! And of course, congratulations to António and everyone in the BMW i Andretti Motorsport team. I’m very proud of the whole team. There’s no better way to end the 2018 motorsport year, and you would be hard pushed to have a better start to a new project and a new season.”
The next round of Formula E will take place on January 12 in Marrakesh, Morocco.
