Taylor Barnard grabbed the victory in Race 2 at the London E-Prix, becoming the youngest Formula E race winner, as Pascal Wehrlein roared to his second title in a dramatic season finale.
At lights out, the battle for the championship title was on. Three drivers were still in contention, but only one could take the ultimate victory at the season-closer.
Lights out for the final time in Season 12
The race got underway as the 20 Formula E drivers were ready to give it their all at the London E-Prix. Nyck de Vries had a solid launch off the line, holding onto his first place. The top three remained unchanged as they headed into Turn 1. Nico Mueller took the job of defender seriously, as he played the team game and held off Mitch Evans behind.
Further behind, Lucas di Grassi’s last weekend continued to sour as he was forced into the pits after the start. Dan Ticktum had contact with Nick Cassidy into Turn 1.
Lap 4 saw Antonio da Costa as the first driver to take attack mode. Soon after the first Attack Mode was triggered.
Da Costa took the opportunity to push ahead, splitting the two Porsche drivers before taking another place from championship leader Wehrlein. Da Costa continued to fight his way through the pack as he attempted to attack Edo Mortara. With pressure from Wehrlein behind, the overtake failed.
Moreover, Mortara missed the opportunity to take attack mode, and put himself in a vulnerable position between de Vries and new pressure from Taylor Barnard who had snuck his way into the fight from behind.
Da Costa forced Wehrlein wide as the two went wheel-to-wheel, both fighting for the position. While everything was on the line for Wehrlein as the championship leader, the same could not be said for da Costa. Despite this, he got his elbows out to fight.
On Lap 11, the fight between da Costa and Wehrlein saw the roles reverse, as the Jaguar driver pushed ahead to fourth place. Further back in the pack, Ticktum and Cassidy battled as Ticktum’s attack mode came to an end.
Retirements and fights in the pack
A technical failure led to an unfortunate end to di Grassi’s Formula E career, as he was forced to retire on Lap 14. Meanwhile, the fight between the teammates at the front saw Mortara take the lead. de Vries lurked close behind as the gap was less than half a second to the race leader.
With 19 laps to go, Evans made contact with the side of Mueller at Turn 19 and was noted by the stewards. After staying behind the Porsche for 18 laps, his patience wore thin as he finally managed to push his way through and take eighth place.
Looking at the championship contenders, it remained a rough day for Dennis. The driver began back in 16th, and on Lap 23, he had only made up one position. Wehrlein remained in fifth for the moment. And Evans continued his attempts to climb up the field.
Soon after, Dennis went hard at wheel-to-wheel with Ticktum. The Andretti driver pushed ahead and quickly got past Mueller to take 14th place. With help from his teammate, Felipe Drugovich, as he moved
da Costa served as a handy tool to Evans as he blocked Wehrlein behind while Evans stormed past and into fourth place. He was quick to pull four seconds ahead.
Buemi pushed his way through the pack in the middle as he followed Evans to climb his way up. The move proved detrimental for Wehrlein as Lap 28 saw the championship leader out of the points. Joel Eriksson was next to roar his way through, as da Costa continued to make it impossible for Wehrlein to push through.
Last moments of friction
Meanwhile, Dennis finally managed to climb through the field as he took seventh place. Eriksson did not make it easy for the Briton as the Envision driver went down the inside to go ahead of him.
A moment of friction between Wehrlein and Dennis turned into chaos. Lap 32 saw the two go wheel-to-wheel, making contact and leaving them both on the back foot.
The chaos continued as Dennis attempted to go on the inside of Eriksson while Wehrlein went on the outside of Dennis and hit Eriksson ahead. As the green invision car spun, the two championship contenders tried to make their way ahead.
In front, Barnard made an overtake on de Vries to take the lead of the race with two laps to go.
The last lap saw Barnard put in an effort to keep de Vries behind. The DS Penske driver made history as the youngest Formula E driver to take victory. The British driver stormed to victory on home soil.
Despite all the chaos and setbacks, Pascal Wehrlein remained determined to push to the end and claimed his second championship title.
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