Cassidy takes his first Formula E win despite crashing

New Zealander Nick Cassidy took his first win in the electric Formula E championship despite crashing and wrecking his car in a rain-soaked and red-flagged race in New York on Saturday.

The Envision driver started on pole position and finished ahead of Brazilian Lucas di Grassi, for the Venturi team, and Dutch racer and team mate Robin Frijns.

Heavy rain at the Brooklyn circuit left standing water and sent the top three acquaplaning into the wall and suffering heavy damage.

The race was halted with seven and a half minutes remaining on the clock, the final places awarded on a countback to the previous lap.

"I was pretty calm after everything happened, but obviously very disappointed initially," said Cassidy. "It felt like it was in the bag with 10 to go, then it started raining.

"I am super happy with the win. I don't want to talk about the decision-making process and all that but in terms of the race the team did a fantastic job."

Venturi's Swiss driver Edoardo Mortara, who was fifth, now leads Mercedes' Stoffel Vandoorne (fourth) by 13 points in the standings. Venturi lead Mercedes by 23 in the teams' championship.

A second race will be held on Sunday.