Stoffel Vandoorne stormed to his maiden victory in the sixth round Formula E’s Race at Home Challenge, held on the virtual home of the New York City E-Prix – the Brooklyn Street Circuit.
For the fourth time in six races, the Mercedes EQ driver secured pole position while championship leader Pascal Wehrlein emerged as his nearest challenger – the German qualifying in second place but starting from seventh as a result of a five-place grid penalty.
With a strong getaway from the front row of the grid, Vandoorne maintained the lead while second-placed starter and championship challenger Maximilian Guenther was caught-up in an accident, pitched into a spin by Neel Jani.
As the field was bunched up into Turns 1 and 2 as a result of Guenther’s crash, this played into Vandoorne’s advantage, and the Belgian quickly opened up a firm gap at the front of the field.
Over the course of the 15-lap affair, Vandoorne was entirely unchallenged and took a dominant victory ahead of next weekend’s double-header finale.
The major fight throughout the race was for the runner-up position with Jani, Wehrlein, and Berlin race winner Oliver Rowland duking it out for second place.
While Jani held the position for the majority of the affair, Rowland overtook on lap 11 and this also allowed Wehrlein to skate past, with the TAG Heuer Porsche driver who was ahead slipping down to fourth.
This duel for second continued between Rowland and Wehrlein, however, it was the latter Mahindra Racing driver who ultimately prevailed, going on to take second while the Nissan e.dams entry settled for third.
Despite showing strong pace, Jani failed to maintain fourth until the chequered flag, with Antonio Felix da Costa notching the 12 points for DS Techeetah while the Swiss pilot completed the top five.
Behind Jani, Mitch Evans fronted a 6-7 result for Panasonic Jaguar Racing as James Calado completed the British outfit’s haul of 14 points, with Sebastien Buemi, Oliver Turvey and Andre Lotterer trailing behind to complete the top 10.
