Formula E Diriyah ePrix I
Diriyah E-Prix: Dennis takes commanding win from Vergne
Reigning Formula E champion Jake Dennis took a comprehensive victory in the opening Diriyah E-Prix, claiming his first win of the season by more than 13 seconds from Jean-Eric Vergne.
Stefan Mackley
Edited: Jan 27, 2024, 10:04 AM
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The Andretti driver was never seriously headed after taking both his Attack Mode activations in the first section of the race, having taken the lead from polesitter Vergne in the process.
Vergne was able to hang onto second but only just after suffering from a severe lack of energy in the final laps, with Mitch Evans attempting a pass on the final lap which ultimately failed and dropped him off the podium.
Vergne held the lead from pole and pulled a small gap as Evans was forced to give space to Sergio Sette Camara, who from fourth on the grid had sent his ERT up the inside in the opening turn.
Evans maintained second, while the loss of momentum for Sette Camara allowed Dennis to move back into third after getting a poor getaway off the line.
On lap three, and at the earliest opportunity, Vergne took the first of his two Attack Mode activations, losing the lead and dropping behind Evans and Dennis.
Evans relinquished the lead a lap later, but he made side-to-side contact with Vergne as he rejoined from his own Attack Mode activation and fell back into third.
The loss of momentum for the pair allowed Dennis to pull a small gap in the lead, and when the Andretti driver took his Attack Mode on lap six, he rejoined in second, behind Vergne but ahead of Evans.
Even at this early stage the front trio had begun to pull away from the chasing pack, which was headed by the second Andretti of Norman Nato, Sette Camara having fallen to fifth after taking his first Attack Mode on lap six.
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
Jake Dennis, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3, Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23
As the leading trio cycled through their second Attack Mode activations by lap nine, Dennis moved back into the lead from Vergne and Evans.
Having been the last to take his second Attack Mode, Evans found himself with extra power compared with his rivals and took second from Vergne into Turn 18 on lap 12, and attempted the same move on Dennis two tours later.
But having run out of extra power heading onto the straight and on the dusty inside line, Evans ran wide, allowing Dennis back through.
The loss of momentum also allowed Dennis to pull a gap of 2s which, over the reminder of the 37-lap race, continued to grow, especially as Vergne struggled for pace in the closing laps.
The DS Penske driver had moved back ahead of Evans on lap 16 after the Kiwi ran wide defending into Turn 18 – something he would repeat for a third time on the final lap.
Further back in the pack and free of Nato, Nick Cassidy had moved up to Jaguar team-mate Evans, and teamwork between them allowed Cassidy to take both Attack Modes and rejoin fourth.
The pair closed up to the back of Vergne in the final laps. However, Evans taking to the inside on the final lap but running wide allowed Cassidy and McLaren’s Sam Bird to move ahead.
Nato finished sixth from Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther and Mexico City E-Prix winner Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche), as Sette Camara held on to ninth and Envision’s Robin Frijns completed the point scorers.
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Diriyah E-Prix I
Main Information Additional Data Additional Data Driver Info
Driver Info
Main Information Additional Data
Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Points Retirement 1 J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 37
45'56.452
26 2 J. Vergne DS Penske 25 37
+13.289
46'09.741
13.289 21 3 N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 37
+13.824
46'10.276
0.535 15 4 S. Bird McLaren 8 37
+14.620
46'11.072
0.796 12 5 M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 37
+15.174
46'11.626
0.554 10 6 N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 37
+15.661
46'12.113
0.487 8 7 M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 37
+16.267
46'12.719
0.606 6 8 P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 37
+16.387
46'12.839
0.120 4 9 S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 37
+26.606
46'23.058
10.219 2 10 R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 37
+26.968
46'23.420
0.362 1 11 J. Hughes McLaren 5 37
+27.021
46'23.473
0.053 12 S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 37
+27.472
46'23.924
0.451 13 O. Rowland Nissan e.dams 22 37
+27.973
46'24.425
0.501 14 S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 37
+28.366
46'24.818
0.393 15 E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 37
+29.397
46'25.849
1.031 16 A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 37
+29.885
46'26.337
0.488 17 N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 37
+30.419
46'26.871
0.534 18 N. Müller Team Abt 51 37
+30.884
46'27.336
0.465 19 L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 37
+31.188
46'27.640
0.304 20 J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 37
+31.541
46'27.993
0.353 21 D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 37
+1'04.712
47'01.164
33.171 dnf S. Fenestraz Nissan e.dams 23 12
+25 Laps
26'34.585
25 Laps Retirement View full results
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