by Linus O'Howell
Nick Cassidy pulled out both a calm and quick display to take victory in Diriyah in only his third race for Jaguar TCS Racing. His replacement at Envision Racing Robin Frijns came home in second whilst Oliver Rowland rounded out the podium for Nissan after a brilliant pole position earlier in the day.
The Most Notable Moments
Robin Frijns got off to an amazing to jump Oliver Rowland into the first corner, whilst Dan Ticktum had to box straight away after damaging his front wing at the start.
📸 Dan Ticktum had a poor start and it cost him a race finish.
After both Frijns and Rowland activated their first (and even second Attack Modes), Nick Cassidy was able to activate his first (and ultimately second) Attack Mode and stay in the lead due to building enough of the gap courtesy of his fast-paced Jaguar.
Sam Bird was then able to pull off a great move to overtake Sergio Sette Camara into T18 whilst Cassidy and Frijns were starting to pull well clear of Ollie Rowland in third. However, the two Jaguar-powered cars were over consuming on energy meaning they eventually fell back into the likes of Rowland and Jake Hughes as they tried to make sure they got to the end. Bird was then passed by Pascal Wehrlein after failing to overtake Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz before the NEOM McLaren driver had to retire just a lap later due to his suspension clearly being broken. It’s worth mentioning that it’s still very unclear as to what happened to Bird.
Towards the end of the race, there weren’t too many more overtakes, but that was mainly because the field was so close in performance that no driver quite had enough pace to attempt a move, let alone make one stick.
📸 Sam Bird endured an eventful race and eventually retired.
Drivers who Impressed
There’s no doubt that Nick Cassidy was the most impressive driver in the Diriyah E-Prix as he showed us why he’s one of the favourites to win the title come July.
📸 Robin Frijns(left) congratulates Nick Cassidy(right).
Robin Frijns, Oliver Rowland, and Jake Hughes all deserves some praise for performing a lot better than the day before.
📸 Ollie Rowland claimed a shock pole and podium on his third race back.
Drivers who struggled
For me, Sergio Sette Camara and Jehan Daruvala were the two drivers that impressed me the least on Saturday night. Both drivers dropped through the field after seemingly having no pace (Daruvala ended up retiring after multiple issues at Turn 18), but it’s also worth mentioning that they weren’t the only drivers that struggled as Dan Ticktum, Norman Nato, Lucas di Grassi, and Jake Dennis all had evenings to forget!
📸 Round 2 hangover? Round 2 winner Dennis could only muster up a P10 finish in Diriyah, and was eventually penalised back to P12.
Overall Race Results
Nick Cassidy: Winner
Robin Frijns: +1.192
Oliver Rowland: +1.875
Jake Hughes: +2.931
Stoffel Vandoorne: +3.397
Sacha Fenestraz: +4.598
Pascal Wehrlein: +4.816
Jean-Eric Vergne: +5.195
Maximilian Gunther: +5.709
Mitch Evans: +6.866
Edoardo Mortara: +10.116
Jake Dennis: +11.240 (5 Second Penalty)
Nico Muller: +14.462
Antonio Felix da Costa: +17.960
Nyck de Vries: +19.295
Norman Nato: +25.235
Lucas di Grassi: +25.639
Sergio Sette Camara: +26.564
DNF: Dan Ticktum, Jehan Daruvala (Issue), Sam Bird (Damage)
DNS: Sebastien Buemi (qualifying damage)
📸 Image credits: ABB FIA Formula E, NEOM McLaren, Nissan NISMO, ERT Racing, Jaguar TCS.
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