WEHRLEIN CROWNED AS HOME HERO ROWLAND PIPS TITLE PROTAGONISTS TO VICTORY IN LONDON

TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein is the Season 10 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion, as the German got the better of Jaguar TCS Racing duo Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy at the end of a pulsating final race of the campaign in London today (21 July).

The title-chasing trio entered the second London E-Prix blanketed by just four points in Wehrlein’s favour, after Cassidy pulled out a stunning lap in qualifying to claim his first pole position of 2024. Throughout the course of the 37-lap contest, the momentum then swung back-and-forth – before late-race dramas for the Jaguar pair placed the ball firmly in the Porsche driver’s court.

Cassidy remained in control around the indoor/outdoor ExCeL Circuit until lap 13, when he deployed the second of his Attack Modes – slipping behind his two championship rivals in the process. That released team-mate Evans into the lead, but Wehrlein was ever-present – and evermore impatient in his attempts to prise the door open.

As the laps ticked down, the duel between the pair intensified, with light contact into Turn One on lap 20 as Evans defended – to the extent that he received a black-and-white warning flag for moving under braking – and Wehrlein became increasingly frustrated.

Right in their slipstream, Cassidy was patiently biding his time. With ten laps remaining, despite being the only one of the top three to have taken his Attack Modes, the New Zealander had recouped enough energy to have more left than either of the two men ahead of him and looked to be in the pound seats. And then, at the end of lap 29, disaster struck.

A touch from the pursuing António Félix da Costa (Porsche) punctured one of the New Zealander’s tyres, and he was subsequently also collected by Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Günther in the last corner, immediately crushing his championship challenge.

One Jaguar driver’s loss looked set to be the other one’s gain, but there were further twists to the tale still to come. With Cassidy out of the equation, Evans and Wehrlein finally jinked left to take Attack Mode for the first time, but with the safety car having been called to clear up the debris, it did not activate – meaning they would need to try again at the next available opportunity.

Having successfully done so, on lap 33, they followed each other into Attack Mode for the second time – only Evans missed it, turning the tables in the title battle once more. It also meant that – almost out of nowhere – Oliver Rowland was into the lead for Nissan Formula E Team, with the Briton having worked his way from ninth on the grid into a position where he was perfectly-placed to pick up the pieces.

For Evans, things were about to go from bad to worse, as due to his failed Attack Mode deployment, he was on the limit for completing it before the chequered flag fell – with the penalty for not doing so being disqualification. That quashed any thoughts the New Zealander may have had of a last-gasp response, as he backed off significantly over the closing laps in order to preserve third place.

With the pressure off, Wehrlein wisely settled for second, knowing that would be sufficient to clinch the coveted crown, while Jaguar secured the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for Teams – the British manufacturer’s first world championship title since 1991 – as consolation for missing out on the biggest prize.

Somewhat overshadowed by the three-way fight for glory, Rowland duly celebrated his third career triumph in the all-electric single-seater series – in the final race of Formula E’s Gen3 era before the new Gen3 Evo car takes over – having never previously scored a single point on home soil. In so doing, the Yorkshireman climbed to a career-high fourth in the Drivers’ standings.

Behind Evans in third, Sébastien Buemi capped a superb end to the 2023/24 campaign for Envision Racing by scything through the field from 17^th to fourth, to back up his podium finish from the previous day.

Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Penske) finished fifth with Nico Müller placing sixth on his swansong for ABT CUPRA Formula E Team and Robin Frijns (Envision), Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske), Lucas Di Grassi (ABT CUPRA) and Jake Hughes (NEOM McLaren) rounding out the top ten.

Following a four-and-a-half month break, Season 11 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will get underway in São Paulo, Brazil on 7 December.

Pascal Wehrlein, No. 94, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, said:

“I don’t know where to start. The race was hard. Obviously, I knew I had to attack and I had to get in front of the Jags. I think Mich defended quite hard, but I still tried to overtake and pass. I don’t know what happened in the end, if it was due to the safety car that got quite close to the attack mode or because he missed it. But nevertheless, I think what we did this weekend, especially, we knew that yesterday and today are the days and we need to be super focused, concentrated, and outperform probably what the car can do and what we could do here in London, because this has never been a track which is good for our car. I think we did that. I think we clearly showed some great pace. I’m very happy for myself, but even more for the team.”

“It feels good. I don’t know what to say, it’s definitely not expected. You turn up, you have a chance. But I always believed in it. The last couple of weeks, every day before my day was starting and my day finished, I said, I can do this. We can do this. Even if the last couple of races, the performance was not that strong and I was struggling a bit with the car and what I felt in the car. I said, It doesn’t matter. I could see it. I taught myself every day, and I’m just super proud of everyone in the team.”

Oliver Rowland, No. 22, Nissan Formula E Team, said:

“Amazing, starting ninth in today’s type of race, we would have never expected to win, but it was a crazy race. I picked my moments in the early parts of the race, and then honestly, when I got to fourth, I just didn’t want to get involved with the title fight. I was waiting. I was kind of hoping something was going to kick off, which it did in the end, and I managed to pick up the pieces and win the race.”

Mitch Evans, No. 9, Jaguar TCS Racing, said:

“I want to be happy for the team for winning the Teams’ Championship, but I feel like we’ve been off our game on this side this weekend and also yeah bit surprised at some of the calls made against me today. A lot of discussions to be held.”