Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis kept his head amidst the drama to win the London E-Prix, becoming Britain’s first Formula E World Champion.
At the start of the race, Envision were in prime position to keep their man Nick Cassidy in contention, with the Kiwi leading ahead of team-mate Sebastien Buemi slotting-in in 2nd ahead of Dennis. Mitch Evans also kept himself in the running by overtaking Dennis on lap 7. The Andretti man struggled to engage Attack Mode as both Envisions crowded him out after Evans stormed through to lead.
Drama and chaos
It looked as if Dennis would have to take the fight into Sunday’s race, but a cataclysmic strategic blunder by Envision on lap 16 saw Buemi and Cassidy touch, the latter suffering front wing damage, ending his race and his Championship chances with it. The incident caused the day’s first Safety Car. There was plenty of work for Dennis still to do with Evans out at the front and with Antonio Felix Da Costa storming his way through into 2nd place from 17th place on the grid.
Another Safety Car would appear on lap 29 after a huge shunt for Sacha Fenestraz, but the incident would quickly leave Race Control no option but to red flag the race.After a parc fermé infringement, Rene Rast would begin the restart from the back. Evans chose to activate Attack Mode and still stay in the lead of the race. But the drama would continue with Buemi and Norman Nato colliding, causing a multi-car pile-up which once again brought out the red flag. Race control would opt to call all cars except the top three – which now included Dennis – to complete a lap behind the Safety Car with the top three to resume their positions afterward.
Dennis clinches Formula E title
Dennis, was now 3rd on the road and on course to clinch the Formula E World Championship. It got even better for him when Da Costa received a time penalty in 2nd. This gave Dennis a buffer of one position to claim the title. Evans took a deserved win with Dennis 3rd on the road but 2nd on timing to claim the title, becoming the first British Formula E champion, and in-front of a cheering home crowd as well as team owner Michael Andretti.
Asked whether Andretti’s presence and the home crowd made the victory even more special, Dennis told LWOS: “Whether Michael is here or anything, it is a massive emotion. To win at my home race and having the boss over from America makes it more sweet. I could see him getting wound-up during the race on the big screens! He wanted it as much as I did and I’m really happy I did it for him.”
Asked how bittersweet a race it was for Evans, claiming the win yet losing the title, the Kiwi said: “Yeah, totally. It’s probably the most deflating win I’ve had! It’s the way it is, Jake’s had a great year. So have we, but it’s not been quite good enough over the course of a whole season. We can now switch our focus to winning the team’s [championship]. We’ve got a great opportunity tomorrow to win our first one.”
Race classification
- Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
- Jake Dennis (Andretti)
- Sebastien Buemi (Envision)
- Sam Bird (Jaguar)
- Sergio Sette Camara (Nio 333)
- Edoardo Mortara (Maserati)
- Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra)
- Dan Ticktum (Nio 333)
- Norman Nato (Nissan)
- Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
Pictures © Duncan White
