Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein took a suprise victory in dramatic fashion on the second Misano E-Prix which noticed Nissan racer Oliver Rowland lose out on the ultimate lap. F1Technical’s senior author Balázs Szabó stories on Round 7 of the 2024 Formula E season.
Polesitter Jakes Hughes led cleanly away with Vergne and Wehrlein plus the remainder of the pack following shut behind – the highest three as they’d left the grid on the finish of Lap 1.
Just as yesterday, drivers jostled for positions firstly of the race as everybody was keen to avoid wasting power in the early phases.
On Lap 4, race chief Hughes went via the assault zone to activate his first energy enhance. Despite the longer distance, the McLaren driver was capable of maintain on to the lead, albeit, a number of corners later, he determined to surrender his place to take pleasure in the advantage of a tow in a race that has been some of the crucial in phrases of power administration in the historical past of Formula E.
Lap 6 noticed Nick Cassidy lead the pack, however he additionally gave up his lead shortly afterwards with Nico Mueller taking on the main place. On the following lap, Robin Frijns was tagged by three different drivers with the incident sending him straight on and into the gravel, requiring the Safety Car to be deployed for his restoration.
When the security automotive left the observe, drivers continued to jostle for positions with Mueller, Cassidy and Hughes continuously altering positions on the sharp finish of the sector.
On Lap 11, it was double catastrophe for Antonio Felix da Costa after the Porsche driver’s disqualification on Saturday – the Portuguese stepping into contact at Turn 1 which required his entrance wing to get replaced, sending him proper to the again of the order.
On the identical lap, Maserati driver Maximilian Guenther went via the gravel lure on the chicane, however managed to rejoin the observe in P8.
When the race reached its midway level, Rowland discovered himself on the entrance, adopted by Wehrlein, Dennis and Mueller. On Lap 17, Mitch Evans stopped on the observe, however the Jaguar racer was capable of get going once more, so there was no want for a security automotive interruption.
Today’s Misano race was two laps shorter than yesterday’s E-Prix, that means that power degree was barely much less crucial. It additionally meant that drivers have been capable of decide up the velocity sooner than on Saturday, and the occasions started to tumble on the half approach stage. With seven laps remaining, Wehrlein and Rowland appeared to have the higher hand with the pair having began to flee from the chasing pack.
On Lap 21, Rowland took the lead away from Wehrlein and started to stretch his legs because the race approached its closing levels. The pair opened up a slight hole to Dennis in third, with Wehrlein showing powerless in opposition to Rowland.
However, Rowland endured drama on the ultimate tour of the race as he ran out of usable power lengthy earlier than the flag. It meant that Wehrlein swoop by the Nissan to win the second Misano race with Dennis following him dwelling. Cassidy pipped Mueller on the road for third place to take over the silverware from the ABT driver.
A DRAMATIC battle for the ultimate spot on the rostrum 😤@NickCassidy_ beat @nico_mueller to the road by simply 5 hundredths of a second!!#MisanoEPrix pic.twitter.com/JzjLZz2lGI
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) April 14, 2024
Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz got here dwelling fifth, Sergio Sette Camara impressed once more for ERT with sixth place. Jean-Eric Vergne adopted in seventh, with polesitter Hughes solely capable of spherical eighth after operating vast. Guenther continued his excellent Season 10 scoring streak with ninth for Maserati MSG Racing on dwelling soil whereas teammate Jehan Daruvala scored maiden factors with tenth.
The victory attracts Wehrlein degree with Dennis on the prime of the Drivers’ standings on 89 factors with prior chief Rowland falling 9 factors again to 3rd. Jaguar TCS Racing heads the best way in the Teams’ desk – 16 factors away from Andretti.
“Very happy about the race today,” the Porsche driver acknowledged after the race. “It was fairly chaotic once more in the start till the center of the race.
“In the end, I wasn’t sure if I should stay in the lead or let Rowland through. The pace he had just seemed a bit weird and too fast to try and defend. I didn’t defend him hard, and was a bit surprised about 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 in the end, the energy, the battery, the tires, just everything.”
Speaking concerning the miscalculation, Rowland stated: “It appears like one thing was missed on the grid, and once I crossed the road firstly it counted down a lap, which it should not so I had one much less lap the entire race.
“We raced well and we were super efficient when we were behind as well,” he continued. ‘I do know now I had one lap much less however I’d have had no drawback making it to the top simply sitting third, fourth or fifth when that was the goal, however when we’ve got targets on the sprint and a plan to take the lead after we get to a sure level of the race and that is what I did, and it did really feel a bit too good to be true on the time. It’s simply a kind of issues, we win and we lose as a staff.
