Guenther extends winning streak with second Race at Home Challenge victory

Maximilian Guenther extended his winning streak in Formula E’s Race at Home Challenge, taking a second consecutive victory in the esports series in support of UNICEF.

For the second race of the season – run at the fictitious Electric Docks Circuit – Stoffel Vandoorne secured pole position ahead of Guenther, beating the BMW i Andretti Motorsport driver to the top spot in qualifying by only 0.087s.

At the start of the 15-lap race which features a unique ‘Race Royale’ elimination format, a poor getaway for Vandoorne saw the Belgian come under pressure immediately, with Guenther and Andre Lotterer challenging for the lead into Turn 1.

Fending off the pair into the tight, single-file, right-left chicane, Vandoorne clipped the wall and Guenther was immediately handed the lead.

Streaking out ahead as Lotterer subsequently crashed behind, Guenther was largely unchallenged during the race, with Pascal Wehrlein coming the closest to displacing the 22-year-old, only to crash when within one second the leader.

Taking the chequered flag, Guenther finished 15s ahead of the next placed driver, with Robin Frijns claiming the runner-up spot as a result of Wehrlein’s accident, with Nico Muller completing the podium.

Displaying an admirable fight through the field, Neel Jani took fourth for Porsche while Vandoorne completed the top five, failing to recover from his first-lap accident with damage to his Mercedes EQ car.

Oliver Turvey took sixth place for NIO to be the filling in a Silver Arrow-sandwich as Nyck de Vries took seventh in the second Mercedes.

In a nail-biting finish, James Calado beat Jean-Eric Vergne to eighth place while Wehrlein completed the top 10, slowing after his late-race crash.

In the Challenge Grid, Peyo Peev took victory ahead of Kevin Siggy in what was a chaotic race of attrition, beating the Scotsman to the top step of the podium by over two seconds while Lucas Mueller took third.