POOLE'S Formula E star Sam Bird slashed the gap on title rival Jean-Eric Vergne with a second place finish in Zurich.

Bird is just 23 points down ahead of the final two rounds in New York next month – where the Dorset-based driver achieved a clean sweep last year.

After a strong display in qualifying, Bird lined up third and battled hard in the early stages to remain among the frontrunners.

Before the halfway mark a full course yellow period – following an incident involving Vergne and Felix Rosenqvist – led to a flurry of drivers heading to the pits to change cars.

Bird emerged fifth, with Vergne ninth. Then the latter and four other drivers were penalised for speeding during the FCY and were handed drive-through penalties.

That allowed Bird to move into second behind leader Lucas di Grassi and he went on to claim his 15th Formula E podium.

He said: “We had a bit of luck but even so, the whole team did a fantastic job to get the result and leave us in a position where we’ll be fighting for the title in New York.

"Now I know what we need to do. I need to beat him (Vergne) in the first race and if I can do that, we have a shot at the title.”