Pascal Wehrlein brings the gap between him and Nick Cassidy in the championship to just two points as he ends a poor run of form with an outstanding drive. Jake Dennis and Maximilian Gunther take the other two podium places. Meanwhile, both Jaguars collide near the end of the E-Prix
A humid Jakarta hosts round 10 of the FIA Formula E world championship, where Maximilian Gunther topped every session this weekend so far, and simultaneously starts on pole for the first time in his career and bags Maserati’s first World Championship single-seater pole position since 1958. Championship leader Nick Cassidy will start the Jakarta E-Prix in a disappointing P10, with championship rivals Jake Dennis and Pascal Wehrlein starting in P2 and P3. One driver who will definitely be looking to turn things around is defending World Champion, Stoffel Vandoorne, who so far has had a season to forget. Currently sitting in 11th in the standings, the Belgian has 28 points to his name with his best result being a P6 in Sao Paulo.
With just a few minutes left until lights out, here’s how the grid will line up:
Lights out and Max Gunther gets a good start and squeezes out Wehrlein who tried to go around his outside into Turn 1, whereas Sebastian Buemi dropped down to 21st place following a very slow start from the line.
Defending World Champion, Vandoorne jumped Jean Eric-Vergne and Jake Dennis to take P3 after the first lap.
Sebastian Buemi’s race went from back to worse and contact between Beckmann and Di Grassi which left some debris on the track. The Swiss driver ran over the debris and found himself driving into the pits for a change of tyres following a puncture, demoting him to last place.
On lap 8, after a few laps of squabbling between the top 4, Pascal Wehrlein decides to use his second attack mode, but finds himself unable to overtake Vandoorne for P2 and Gunther who retains his pole position.
The next lap, Nick Cassidy took his first attack mode the race and is making up good time in P7, following a great first lap where he did well to avoid making contact on more than one occasion.
Crossing the line to start lap 12/36, both ABT Curpa’s are in the points with Robin Frijns in P8 and Nico Muller in P10. Could the fortune of the German team be changing following an abysmal start to the season?
Approaching lap 16, Pascal Wehrlein leads Maximilian Gunther by 0.7s and seems to be pulling away at a steady rate, the former championship leader switching to a higher gear this race, coincided with Gunther’s lack of pace.
`The next lap Jake Dennis makes a late lung down the inside of Vandoorne work and takes P3 back from the Belgian driver, with the help of his attack mode.
At the halfway point of the race, Nick Cassidy currently sits in P6 and is hunting down DS Penske’s Jean Eric-Vergne for P5 as the Kiwi makes up some ground. Pascal Wehrlein is still 0,7s ahead of the Maserati driver with Jake Dennis, who recently re-took P3 from Vandoorne is 1,5s behind the German in P2.
Lap 20 contact between Cassidy and Vergne! An ambitious lunge from Cassidy down the inside of Vergne who just wasn’t aware the bright green Envision racing car was there and the Frenchman turned in on him, putting Cassidy into a momentary drift and narrowly avoided the barrier on the apex. Both drivers are without damage and Cassidy will continue his chase.
After making quick work of Maximilian Gunther, Jake Dennis is hunting Pascal Wehrlein for P1 and is inches away from him.
Lap 24, a three-way fight for first place brings Stoffel Vandoorne into the mix, as Dennis tries to pull off the switchback on Wehrlein but so almost loses out to Max Gunther who is squeezed out wide.
The next lap, the battle for the lead has started to expand as Jean Eric-Vergne and Nick Cassidy have caught the back of Stoffel Vandoorne. Whilst Nick Cassidy takes his final attack mode in a bid to get past Jean Eric-Vergne and push for the podium places.
With six laps to go, Wehrlein, Dennis and Gunther in P3 have started to pull away from the DS Penske’s, as Vandoorne trails the Maserati by 2,5s. Meanwhile, Dennis who is looking for his second win of the season, is all over the rear wing of Wehrlein who seems to be struggling.
Following a clean race with no yellow flags or safety cars, on lap 34 the stewards announced that no laps will be added, and we now approach the final two laps. However, the Jaguars have collided! It’s Deja vu for Bird as down into turn 1 Sam Bird drove into the back of Mitch Evans, spinning his team-mate around 180 degrees and landing in the barrier backwards.
A final lap of mayhem, Pascal Wehrlein takes his third win of the season! Holding off a rapid Jake Dennis who finished in P2 and Maximilian Gunther who did well to convert his pole into a podium finish and finished P3. Vandoorne and Vergne take superb points home for DS Penske as Championship leader Cassidy ultimately finished P7 after losing a position to Edoardo Mortara whilst taking an attack mode and couldn’t get back past him.
Robin Frijns finishes P9 and bags two more points for ABT Cupra. meanwhile, Sebastain Buemi has a torrid time finishing ahead of only the two Jaguars who retired.
