Pascal Wehrlein secures Race 2 win in Misano EPrix of Formula E weekend after heartbreak for Oliver Rowland on the final lap.
Polesitter Hughes led cleanly away with Vergne and Wehrlein plus the rest of the pack following close behind – the top three as they’d left the grid at the end of Lap 1. Drivers jostled to find space and clean air over the early laps – desperately trying to avoid the pinch points at Turns 8 & 9 and fall foul of contact, with the field split, as it was in race one, by just five or so seconds.
On Lap 4, Hughes and Vergne, one and two, were the first to jump for ATTACK MODE – the first of two mandatory 50kW power boosts to be used as the drivers and their engineers decide in the encounter. From there, Hughes ceded the race lead to the DS driver, having led until that point while Wehrlein and Cassidy then jumped for ATTACK and occupied P1 and P2 respectively at the end of Lap 5.
ABT CUPRA’s Nico Mueller was next to lead, with the top 10 pretty much level on usable energy remaining on Lap 7, while Robin Frijns (Envision Racing) caught his wing in contact, sending him straight on and into the gravel, requiring the Safety Car to be deployed for his recovery – the Dutchman complaining he was “sandwiched”. On Lap 9 the race went green once again, with Mueller leading Wehrlein and Cassidy away, while much of the pack leapt for their second ATTACK MODE activations right away.
On Lap 11, it was double disaster for Antonio Felix da Costa after the Porsche driver’s disqualification on Saturday – the Portuguese getting into contact at Turn 1 which required his front wing to be replaced, sending him right to the back of the order. Mueller hit the front again on Lap 13, with Wehrlein in behind, while Rowland picked his moment to push – taking third from Wehrlein before moving into th race lead, as Mueller was shuffled first to third by the Nissan then reigning champion Dennis’ Andretti.
The times began to tumble at the half way stage, some two seconds a lap quicker than the opening third – Rowland and Wehrlein opening up a slight gap to Dennis in third and the chasing pack behind. Wehrlein looked to be in the box seat with 10 laps to go – the Porsche driver with a massive 2% usable energy in-hand on those around him. On Lap 18, The German leapt to the front of the field with enough in-hand to punch his way through the air out front to the finish.
Rowland took the lead through Sector 1 on Lap 20, looking to gain track position with five tours to go. The Nissan driver was still far short of Wehrlein’s remaining energy – surely this would only help the Porsche driver’s cause? The German’s engineer was over the radio to his driver to make a move for P1 with four laps to run with the lead pair pulling two seconds on third-placed Dennis.
Wehrlein seemed powerless, though, with his battery derating – overheating – heading into the final lap. Drama, though, saw Wehrlein swoop by the Nissan as Rowland slowed to a crawl, running out of usable energy long before the flag. Dennis followed him home with Cassidy pipping Mueller on the line for third position – heartbreakingly close to silverware for the ABT CUPRA squad.
Results: https://x.com/MsportXtra/status/1779509144640205075
UPDATE: Guenther has received a 5-second time penalty for causing a collision with Vergne. His final classification is P12, moving teammate Daruvala, Bird and Di Grassi up one place each.
Here’s how Race 1 of Formula E in Misano panned out
[Note: The story is as per press release]
