Max Guenther completed a strategic masterclass to take victory in Race 1 of the Formula E Shanghai E-Prix, as Jean-Eric Vergne pounced on the final lap to complete an amazing DS Penske 1-2.
The German executed some shrewd usage of Attack Mode and the Pit Boost to take his second victory of the season.
After seemingly being out of the thick of the action for much of the race, Vergne finished second, with Taylor Barnard completing the podium.
Dan Ticktum narrowly missed out on a second successive podium to finish fourth, with Oliver Rowland fifth.
Norman Nato took sixth, with Sam Bird seventh to ensure all Nissan-powered cars scored points, boosting their Manufacturers’ Championship tally.
Nyck de Vries was eighth, with the Envision Racing pair of Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns completing the top 10.
Wehrlein takes early lead as Cassidy spun out of contention
At lights out, Guenther copped across Barnard, but Pascal Wehrlein swooped across both of them around the outside to take the lead.
The pack effect was evident straightaway, with Rowland moving up to second by the end of the Lap 2, but for Nick Cassidy, his hard work in qualifying was undone.
Towards the final corner, a bottleneck was created by Vergne taking a chunk of cars on the inside, and with him looking into the inside of Edoardo Mortara, Cassidy was left with nowhere to go on the outside, and was spun around.
Both the Kiwi and the Mahindra man were now at the back of the field, and both needing to pit.
Stoffel Vandoorne took his first Attack Mode on Lap 3, as Guenther and Rowland traded the lead, as de Vries moved up into second with the Nissan in the lead.
Lucas Di Grassi took Attack Mode on Lap 5 as Vandoorne worked his way up to third as his was running out.
The second Maserati of Jake Hughes was also working his way up, and the Brit made contact with Rowland, sending him wide into Turn 1, the Nissan just about keeping itself facing the right way as it negotiated the marbles off the racing line.
Vandoorne was now leading with de Vries sandwiched by the two Maseratis, as Buemi opted to take an attack early too.
Di Grassi’s extra power saw him move up to sixth, with Buemi now 10th. Both Maseratis dropped back by the end of Lap 7, leaving de Vries in the lead, with Rowland second, as Guenther held firm in third before di Grassi took it off of him on Lap 8.
Frijns, Nico Mueller and both Porsches took Attack Mode, with Buemi now sixth. On the energy reveal, Cassidy at the back predictably had the most, with the Kiros conserving plenty too.
Wehrlein and da Costa were moving up the field together sixth and eighth respectively by the start of Lap 11, with de Vries leading despite having yet to take any extra power.
The reigning champion took di Grassi for sixth, with Barnard, having started second, keeping his powder dry in 14th.
Mueller was first to take his Pit Boost on Lap 12, as de Vries and Rowland took their first Attack Mode, and a lap later, a whole bunch of cars started to pit.
Porsches work their way up the field as Pit Boost begins
Guenther, Antonio Felix da Costa, Vandoorne were amongst them, as Barnard, Hughes, David Beckmann and Wehrlein all took Attack Mode, the latter his second.
Da Costa immediately took his second Attack upon leaving the pits, as Ticktum was now up to 10th, having not yet pitted or taken on any extra energy.
Rowland pitted at the end of Lap 16, leaving Wehrlein and di Grassi leading the pack, as Hughes, Barnard and Ticktum all followed, the five all yet to pit.
Despite annoyance at his team for their strategic decision, Rowland rejoined in seventh, but the net leader, however Guenther was quickly onto him and took the lead midway through Lap 18.
Wehrlein was up to second, but with the handicap of both Guenther and Rowland either side of him with an Attack Mode left.
With now 10 laps to go, Rowland had a energy advantage on his main rivals, with team-mate Norman Nato also saving a fair chunk of percentage too, waiting to pounce from 11th.
De Vries was one place ahead, taking his final Attack Mode, and moving swiftly up to ninth, along with Barnard, who moved from sixth to fifth to third in a matter of corners.
With Wehrlein now told to save energy, Barnard swept past the Porsche at the end of Lap 20, and sailing past Guenther too to take the lead.
The McLaren youngster had never been in a better position to take his first win, but Guenther was still holding a two percent advantage in second place.
Nato was now fifth ahead of Rowland, but the title-leader took his second Attack, now in eighth, with six-and-a-half laps to make up the places.
Both Jaguars of Cassidy and Mitch Evans, still languishing at the back, were now taking their extra energy, in the hope of a late surge.
Guenther now took his final Attack Mode, with the DS now in fourth, as Barnard held a 1.8s lead from Nato, who was utilised to give his team-mate the tow to go for the win.
“He needs to help me here,” Rowland exclaimed over radio, needing his French counterpart to hold up the pack.
Midway through Lap 24, Rowland quickly made up the gap to Barnard and took the lead with just over a minute’s extra energy left.
Guenther strolls to the flag as Vergne completes
Guenther quickly took the McLaren too, and had a minute and 10 seconds of Attack Mode left as Rowland’s now ran out. The German looked to be in the box seat to take glory.
Behind the gaggle at the front, Ticktum was now fifth, hoping to fend off both Vergne and Bird, both on Attack Mode in sixth and seventh.
Guenther took the lead from Rowland into Lap 26, and fell into Barnard and Nato’s clutches. The Nissan tried to muscle past Barnard for third, but the youngster held firm and forced Nato wide.
Barnard was now harrying Rowland, and after corner after corner of pressure, he was through to second, as Ticktum took third into the penultimate lap.
Guenther was now sitting pretty, 3.8s ahead in the lead. With da Costa 14th, Rowland could afford to be cautious, knowing that he was still able to score points to move further ahead in the championship race.
Ticktum and Barnard were now in a straight fight for second into the final lap, the Kiro trying to take the place into Turn 1, but Barnard chopped him off.
Guenther coasted to a brilliant victory, and whilst Barnard and Ticktum concentrated on each-other, Vergne snatched second off both of them to make it a DS 1-2.
In what was undoubtedly one of the best races of the season, the Franco-American squad could feel further vindicated in employing strategic guru Phil Charles, and go into Race 2 confident of repeating the feat.
READ MORE – Shanghai E-Prix: Max Guenther snatches pole position from Taylor Barnard
