Pascal Wehrlein dominated the opening race of the London E-Prix weekend to grab the Formula E championship lead ahead of Sunday’s title decider.
The factory Porsche driver won by six seconds ahead of erstwhile points leader Jake Dennis for Andretti with Jaguar’s Antonio Felix da Costa completing the podium at the tight ExCeL Arena.
It leaves Wehrlein five points ahead of second-placed Dennis with 29 left available, while 11th and 10th for Mitch Evans and Oliver Rowland respectively has effectively put them out of the fight.
Porsche has grabbed the headlines all weekend as qualifying saw both factory cars contest the final duel, where Nico Muller backed off in the final sector to hand pole to team-mate Wehrlein.
That, coupled with Dan Ticktum starting on the second row in Kiro’s customer Porsche alongside Evans, made it a dream qualifying for the German - who on Friday predicted team orders to play a role in the championship fight.
It was therefore no surprise to see him enter Turn 1 unchallenged amid an uncharacteristically clean start at the ExCeL, where Wehrlein pulled three seconds clear on the opening lap.
The aim was to back up Jaguar's Mitch Evans
Muller’s role was clear: to back up Evans and the rest of the pack around the indoor-outdoor venue, where the tight characteristics helped him to resist the Jaguar driver’s attacks.
That caused the ire of Evans, labelling Muller’s tactics as “dodgy”, and what didn’t help his cause was laps seven and eight being completed under yellow flag conditions.
It came after Lola’s Zane Maloney collected damage from his contact with Edoardo Mortara’s Mahindra, forcing the series sophomore into an early retirement.
But when green flag conditions returned, the on-track procession continued until drivers started to ultise their attack mode and pitstop boost around lap 17 with Evans jumping in straight away.
This gave him the clean air he needed to then take Attack Mode on lap 18, leading to his eventual overtake on Muller the following tour for net second with Wehrlein yet to pit.
It initially looked as though the now rapid Evans had utilised the best strategy, at one stage appearing set to jump ahead of his title rival once Porsche had pitted the 2025 champion.
The racing gods, however, had other ideas as Lucas di Grassi going straight into Turn 9 barrier on lap 21 allowed Wehrlein - and many others - to take a cheap pitstop under yellow flags.
Nyck De Vries finished 13th
It meant he easily kept his net lead and straight away a frustrated Evans knew his challenge was done, staring at a fight to stay inside the top 10 instead of a podium.
The damage became worse when he was overtaken by Muller - also affected by the untimely FCY - just as Wehrlein was looking at a healthy eight-second lead to now second-placed Ticktum.
But it was close behind the Kiro driver as he, da Costa and Dennis were all in a scrappy fight for the final podium spots, with the Andretti driver taking third on lap 28.
It wasn’t long after that the erstwhile championship leader then claimed second from Ticktum before quickly gaining three seconds as Da Costa soon overtook the Briton.
That left the podium settled but Ticktum kept dropping, losing out in a scrappy four-way fight for fourth across the final laps as he slumped to seventh behind Sebastien Buemi, Mortara and Taylor Barnard respectively.
But he then jumped up to sixth post-race after Mortara dropped to seventh following a penalty for his late collision with Ticktum at Turn 1, while Evans, Nick Cassidy and Rowland completed the top 10.
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