by Linus O'Howell
A sensational drive from Jake Dennis resulted in the reigning World Champion taking his first victory of the season by a huge 13 seconds. DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne took P2 after a great defensive drive whilst Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy rounded out the podium for the second-straight round.
The Most Notable Moments
Jean-Eric Vergne got off the line well to lead into Turn 18 before Sergio Sette Camara and Mitch Evans collided into the first turn, but no harm was done for either driver.
Vergne, Evans, and Dennis quickly pulled away from the rest of the field as all three men entered their first Attack Modes, but by the end of Lap 8, Dennis had jumped into the lead after all three of them used up both of their Attack Modes.
📸 Vergne ahead of Evans, Dennis and Sette Camara.
Behind the top 3, Norman Nato had Sette Camara, Sam Bird, and Nick Cassidy for close company before Evans pulled off a great move to re-overtake Vergne for P2. However, Evans was unable to pull off the same move on Dennis a couple of laps later as the Kiwi driver went deep into T18, ultimately allowing the reigning World Champion to build a gap.
At the middle stage of the race, after Vergne had dispatched Evans, Cassidy arrived on the scene before Jaguar TCS Racing played a smart strategy in allowing Cassidy through, a move that would result in their drivers being P3 and 4 respectively (Evans ahead of Cassidy).
📸 Cassidy acted late with Attack Mode to seal a podium.
Towards the end of the race, Dennis built up a big gap by setting three consecutive fastest laps before ultimately taking the chequered flag first, whilst on the final lap of the Diriyah E-Prix, Evans got a little bit overzealous when trying to take Vergne for P2 as he went too deep into Turn 18, a move that would ultimately see the talented driver drop behind his teammate Cassidy (who inherited the final spot on the podium) and NEOM McLaren’s Bird for P5.
Drivers who Impressed
There’s no doubt that Jake Dennis was the most impressive driver in Diriyah tonight as he showcased his immense talent and the main reason why he’s the reigning ABB FIA Formula E World Champion.
📸 2023 champion Dennis.
However, Dennis wasn’t the only man that impressed me this evening as Jean-Eric Vergne pulled out a brilliant defensive drive, Nick Cassidy showed class to pick out a clever strategy, Sam Bird had a really impressive drive to take P4 for McLaren whilst Sergio Sette Camara deserves a mention as scoring points in an ERT is never an easy thing.
📸 Points for Sergio Sette Camara.
Drivers who struggled
Honestly, I really wasn’t impressed with Mitch Evans today. Evans is a really quick and talented driver, but mistakes like the one’s he made today could ultimately decide whether he wins that elusive first World Championship or not. ABT CUPRA also had a bit of a shocker, Jehan Daruvala and Dan Ticktum were once again running at the back (I especially don’t know what’s going on with Ticktum) whilst I don’t really know what happened to Sacha Fenestraz (he was involved in a first-lap collision). Also, what on earth was going on with Antonio Felix da Costa?!
📸 Ticktum paled in comparison to his teammate.
Overall Race Results
Jake Dennis: Winner
Jean-Eric Vergne: +13.289
Nick Cassidy: +13.824
Sam Bird: +14.620
Mitch Evans: +15.174
Norman Nato: +15.661
Maximilian Gunther: +16.267
Pascal Wehrlein: +16.387
Sergio Sette Camara: +26.606
Robin Frijns: +26.968
Jake Hughes: +27.021
Sebastien Buemi: +27.472
Oliver Rowland: +27.973
Stoffel Vandoorne: +28.366
Edoardo Mortara: +29.397
Antonio Felix da Costa: +29.885
Nyck de Vries: +30.419
Nico Muller: +30.884
Lucas di Grassi: +31.188
Jehan Daruvala: +31.541
Dan Ticktum: +1:04.712
DNF: Sacha Fenestraz (Collision)
📸 Image credits: ABB FIA Formula E, DS Penske, ERT Racing Team, Andretti Global.
Comments