Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein showed calmness under pressure to take a superb win in Race 1 of the London E-Prix weekend, to take the lead in the Drivers’ Championship and setting-up a thrilling showdown on Sunday.
The German, starting third on the grid, held-off the challenge of fellow title rival Mitch Evans, with Nick Cassidy finishing in seventh after a recovery drive from 17th place.
Sébastien Buemi finished a fine third for Envision, with Mahindra scoring their best result of Season 10 so far, with Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara fourth and fifth.
Nico Müller, in his penultimate race for ABT Cupra, was sixth, with Sam Bird eighth and Stoffel Vandoorne ninth. Norman Nato was tenth, with Sacha Fenestraz and Jake Dennis relegated to 14th and 16th from top 10 finishes, with both men the recipient of four time penalties between them.
The outcome now leaves just three drivers now capable of winning the championship, with Wehrlein leading on 180 points, three ahead of Evans, and seven ahead of Cassidy.
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
At the start, Evans got away well and led into turn one, with Wehrlein and Nato side-by-side for the first third of the lap, with the Porsche eventually having to relent to the Andretti. Further behind, Dennis attempted to take Robin Frijns at the first chicane, the sister Andretti launching onto the kerb and, as a result, forcing Frijns into the opposite barrier with no room, with Bird an unfortunate casualty behind, both cars nose-first into the wall. The incident brought out the Safety Car, with a ten second penalty handed to Dennis for the manoeuvre. Frijns was taken to hospital for precautionary checks.
The Safety Car pulled-in at the beginning of lap five, with Fenestraz and Vandoorne the first to take Attack Mode. On lap six, Dennis was involved in another incident, tangling with Vergne, with Rowland and da Costa coming together at the final corner, sending Rowland to the back of the pack and da Costa into retirement, his already-unlikely title charge over.
Cassidy was by now up to 10th, managing to carefully tread his way through the chaos, with his team-mate still controlling the race, but on lap nine, Buemi was through into the lead, squeezing ahead of Evans into T1, with Wehrlein still in-touch. Günther, up to fifth, took his first Attack Mode, dropping one place behind de Vries.
Dennis, looking to make-up for his earlier shortcomings, began to drive like a man on a mission, scything past Vandoorne, Bird and Müller up to 12th, and began harrying Cassidy into lap 12, muscling past the Kiwi, sending him down to 12th. Cassidy quickly opted for Attack Mode, with Jake Hughes’ miserable day compounded by retiring his McLaren a lap later. Dennis’ aggression in the tangle with Vergne earned him another penalty, this time five seconds. Rowland was the recipient of one of his own for his part in the da Costa incident.
Günther took fourth off Nato on lap 14, with Vergne, Dennis and Daruvala all jostling for ninth. Buemi took his first Attack Mode on lap 16, handing Evans back his lead, but would retake it on lap 17, with Wehrlein, Günther, de Vries and Nato all not too far away. Cassidy was now down in 14th and unable to make any impression on the race.
Dennis’ series of penalties was now three, with another five seconds added for the overtake on Cassidy, who was almost sent out of the race by Vergne, the Frenchman’s elbows well-and-truly out, prompting the Jaguar to slide into a kiss with the wall.
At the end of lap 21, Buemi dropped behind both Evans and Wehrlein, demoting him down to third place, with Evans now trying to find clear air between himself and the Porsche. Cassidy was took another Attack Mode, now down in 15th.
Wehrlein sailed past Evans into the lead at T1 with a percentage advantage of two percent on the Jaguar. He would take an Attack Mode on lap 23, keeping his lead, but only just. Evans took his latest Attack Mode a lap later, with both the front men beginning to pull clear of the Buemi
Further back, Nato and Fenestraz were duelling for sixth, as Buemi dropped to fourth after taking another attack, with Günther benefitting and now in third.
Lap 27, and Wehrlein took his final attack, and again having to draw on every resource and fibre of willpower to fend-off Evans, the pair wheel-to-wheel, but the Porsche remaining on top. With an advantage of two percent still, Wehrlein began to scamper off, with Evans’ challenge appearing to be done.
With Günther also possessing the same percentage gap, the Maserati was beginning to hound Evans with just seven laps to go. Günther was brave and made his move, sending it past the Jaguar. A visible tide was appearing on the London dock by the track, and it was turning in the favour of Porsche.
Further back, Dennis was not out of action, battling with Fenestraz for sixth, taking the position at the start of lap 32, the Frenchman having touched with the second Andretti of Nato a lap earlier, sending him into the barriers, and prompting another Safety Car deployment, with Fenestraz given a five second penalty.
Green flag on track began racing on lap 34, with Evans now surely praying to the racing gods that Günther could take the lead, but the Maserati slowed the middle of the lap, eventually grinding to a halt, with a technical failure seemingly the catalyst. With the German’s car off-line, Race Director Scot Elkins opted to order a full course yellow, with two added laps onto the race.
The green flag was out on lap 37, with Evans now need to go for broke, but still behind Wehrlein on energy. With Cassidy now up to ninth, his title challenge was now back on track.
On the final lap, Evans set the fastest lap but found no way by Wehrlein, who drove superbly all race, to take a deserved victory, handing him the championship lead. Evans followed, with Buemi holding off de Vries for third, who was followed closely by Mortara. Cassidy, ninth on the circuit but importantly, the beneficiary of Dennis and Fenestraz’s penalties to take seventh.
