Nick Cassidy made it two wins from two in the Formula E London E-Prix, signing off from Jaguar TCS Racing in style, amid a controversial strategy that angered team-mate Mitch Evans.
A 13.5 second advantage at the end saw the Kiwi cruise to a stunning victory, which also perfectly ended the reign of Team Principal of James Barclay.
Evans, who was given a five-second penalty earlier in the race, was incensed by a lack of strategic help, and ultimately dropped to fifth having finished second on the road.
Nyck de Vries took second as a consequence, as Sebastien Buemi took third, with Jake Dennis fourth.
Antonio Felix da Costa scored a sensational sixth after starting last, with Max Guenther seventh, and Pascal Wehrlein eighth.
Lucas di Grassi also impressed with ninth, having started on the back row with da Costa, with David Beckmann taking his first points for Cupra Kiro with 10th.
The results confirmed Tag Heuer Porsche’s victory as Teams’ Champions, with the German marque also winning the Manufacturers’ Championship along with Andretti and Kiro.
At the start, Cassidy chopped across Guenther to keep his lead into Turn 1, with Evans up to third, with Ticktum dropping down to seventh, but quickly taking Vandoorne back for sixth place.
Mortara crawled to a halt and out of the race, as Rowland made his way up to eighth, with da Costa moving ahead of di Grassi for 20th place.
Evans had a look around Guenther’s outside but the DS Penske driver resisted Evans eventually made it through at the end of Lap 3, with Rowland now up to sixth.
He had a look at Wehrlein into Turn 1, with Ticktum now eighth behind Nato.
De Vries divebombed Guenther for third, which let Wehrlein through into fourth, as Ticktum took Nato for seventh.
Rowland was now up to third at the end of Lap 5, as Ticktum harried Nato, and pitched him sideways, putting him through as well as Mueller, who took sixth off both of them.
Wehrlein took his first Attack Mode, dropping down to eighth, as Evans took third off Rowland, who then took his first attack and let Mueller through to fourth.
Barnard was also on extra energy now, as Rowland quickly took his fourth place back and quickly set off in search of Evans.
Rowland’s sensational season ends in disappointment
Guenther took his first Attack Mode and dropped to eighth, as Wehrlein took Barnard for sixth, and up ahead, Rowland took Evans for third and then went for de Vries, but contact saw Rowland’s front wing damaged.
Barnard and Nato were in wall, ending their battle, but both men got going again and pitted. A Full Course Yellow was the result but quickly went green again.
De Vries went for his first Attack Mode and dropped to fourth, as bits of Rowland’s front wing shed itself. Nato was able to keep going but was now in last place, but Barnard was out in his last race for McLaren.
All the while, Cassidy led by three seconds from Rowland, with de Vries now back ahead of Evans.
He then made another divebomb, this time on Rowland into Turn 1, who nearly lost third to Mueller, the pair going wheel to wheel on Lap 16, but into Lap 17, it all went wrong for the World Champion.
Defending Mueller’s advances into Turn 1, Rowland went deep and clouted the Andretti as it made the switch back.
Rowland went into the wall at Turn 2, Mueller’s car was now damaged, ending his race and bringing out the Safety Car.
Evans seemingly left hung to dry as Cassidy takes emotional victory
It return to the pits at the end of Lap 19, with Evans receiving a five-second time penalty for an overspeeding infringement.
But he was quickly up to second, making it a Jaguar 1-2, as he took his Attack Mode, and not losing track position in the process.
It seemed that perhaps he would be able to take the lead in a team game but instead, he was ordered to hold position.
They then took their final Attack Modes together on Lap 27 as an angry Evans demanded a tow from Cassidy to help him secure a buffer and a potential podium position.
Cassidy was on a mission to get the fastest lap, according to the team, and then he would drop back to help Evans, as dr Vries held onto third.
Ticktum, who pitted for a puncture earlier in the race, and was also the recipient of a five-second time penalty, was giving a valiant effort, moving up to sixth on the road.
Buemi was now fourth, with Dennis fifth, as Cassidy continued to streak clear, now 7.5 seconds ahead of Evans.
The lead was now nine seconds by Lap 33, with two extra laps added to make a total of 36.
Now on the penultimate lap, the lead was 11 seconds, with de Vries and Buemi now sniffing around Evans.
Wehrlein was in trouble, suffering car damage and dropping back to ninth, with da Costa, who started last, now in eighth, as di Grassi, who started alongside him, was 10th.
Cassidy crossed the line to win by 13 seconds, with de Vries second and Buemi inheriting second and third. Evans dropped down to fifth as a result of his penalty, who was told there was no answer from the team about the strategy at play.
READ MORE – London E-Prix: Nick Cassidy takes Race 2 pole in final race for Jaguar
Discussion about this post