German TAG Heuer Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein won Race 2 of the Formula E Misano E-Prix, becoming the first to repeat a victory this season.
Wehrlein had won the first race of the season in Mexico City and with today’s victory, he regains first place in the drivers’ championship from Oliver Rowland.
Rowland was first until the last lap of the race and it seemed I had everything under control, but in the last meters his car ran out of energy with the batteries overheating and he was overtaken by almost everyone, finishing in 15th position.
Thus the English Nissan driver not only lost the race, but also the lead in the drivers’ championship.
Jake Dennis finished second, demonstrating a very important concreteness to defend his title.
So during the excited study and strategy phases, he was ready at the right time to make the final push for the second step of the podium.
Very important points for the championship and also for Porsche, which placed two of its cars, the official one and that of the Andretti Autosport customer team, in the first two places of the race.
Nick Cassidy with his Jaguar managed to take the final third place just when there were a few meters left for the checkered flag, knocking Nico Müller off the podium who drove a great race with a car that was increasingly struggling in terms of performance.
The New Zealander from Jaguar collected important points for both championships in a weekend where Jaguar did not seem to live up to the performances demonstrated so far, which shows how Formula E is always ready to disprove every certainty in a very short time.
Nico Müller on the other hand had a great race, falling off the podium by only 50 thousandths of a second; but in any case gaining very important points for the ABT Cupra team.
Regarding this, the words said by Team Principal Thomas Biermaier during the meeting to present the agreement with Lola Yamaha were very important.
I’m proud of all the guys on the team, because they’re working so hard now that we’re not winning and sport makes you learn to lose. When you win everything is much easier and we have won a lot in our history in Formula E, but now that the difficult moment has arrived, the whole team is very united and works tirelessly to improve. I am proud of all of them – concluded the Team Principal.
Pascal Wehrlein, No. 94, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, said:
Yesterday would have been better to win but I’m very happy about the race today. It was quite chaotic again in the beginning until mid-race. I wasn’t sure if I should stay in the lead or let Oli [Rowland] through the pace. His pace seemed a bit weird and too fast to try and defend so I didn’t defend him much. I was a bit surprised by his energy, I wasn’t sure if the team had the correct information or not. But in the end, it proved to be the right thing to do. It was a lot of managing; the energy, the battery, the tires. Just everything.
It goes quickly from zero to hero, we know that in Formula E. I think we had the pace this weekend to win both races. Unfortunately yesterday with these kinds of races I was a bit of a victim with my front wing and then being at the back, but today was a big redemption for us.
Jake Dennis, No. 1, Andretti Formula E Team, said:
It all came together, from ninth to second is a pretty good day in the office but it was a struggle as you saw. As soon as the pace picked up at the front I just got dropped immediately and fell back into the clutches of both Nicks, it was just survival mode for me today. This weekend has been a real struggle but coming home with two second places when you’re starting outside of the top 10 yesterday is a good starting point.
“Just shows us how good the Porsche powertrain is, full credit to those guys for giving us the opportunity to do this. We’ve [Pascal Wehrlein] both obviously scored a lot of points and are sitting pretty towards the top end of the championship. Overall, a lot of hard work to do before Monaco to sort our qualifying pace out and then we can really start the championship.
Nick Cassidy, No. 37, Jaguar TCS Racing, said:
We had a good few opening laps, but the race was very difficult with the safety car for us. We moved the target up, gave people a chance to have an attack and pass me, as I’d already done my two attacks – I think I was the only car in the field that had done my two attacks when the safety car came, and that really hurt. But that happens sometimes. And then I got really lucky at the end. Well done to the ABT guys and to Nico [Müller] who had a great performance today. I think they deserve the podium.
[On preparing for Monaco] I think I’m just going to stay at home, look at the trophy from last year, and rock up.
In the following links you can read and/or download the official final classification of Race 2 of the Misano E-Prix, the drivers’ championship positions and the teams championship positions. (PDF)
144_Doc 144 – Final Classification Race
145_Doc 145 – Drivers Championship Points after R7
146_Doc 146 – Teams Championship Points after R7
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Source: Formula E
Photo Credits: BMF / Mitsuaki Futori
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