London, Jul 22 (PTI) Pascal Wehrlein of Porsche withstood relentless pressure from Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy of Jaguar to win his maiden Formula E world championship at the season-ending London E-Prix here.
The dramatic conclusion unfolded on Sunday when Wehrlein’s triumph exemplified Season 10’s year of intense racing.
The season finale saw three contenders – Wehrlein, Evans, and Cassidy – entering the final round separated by just seven points.
Cassidy, who led the championship going into the weekend, demonstrated remarkable resilience, rebounding from a disappointing performance in Portland and a challenging Saturday qualifying session in London.
Starting 15th in the first race, he managed to finish seventh, before earning pole position for the second race on Sunday morning.
Cassidy led the field as teammate Evans overtook Maximillian Gunther (Maserati) for second place at Turn 1.
An early Safety Car period allowed Wehrlein to pass Gunther, placing all three title contenders in the top-three positions by Lap 6.
Jaguar seemed to dominate, with their drivers battling for the championship.
However, internal tensions surfaced during Cassidy’s Attack Mode activations, with Evans and Cassidy jostling for position and Wehrlein capitalising on their discord.
Oliver Rowland, starting from ninth, surged to fourth by Lap 29 and overtook Cassidy for third, triggering a collision with Gunther that ended Cassidy’s race with a puncture.
This left the championship fight to Wehrlein and Evans as the Safety Car reappeared.
With less than eight laps to go, both Evans and Wehrlein needed to activate their remaining Attack Mode boosts.
An invalidated attempt during the caution period handed Rowland the lead, but a Safety Car infringement forced him to relinquish it to Evans.
The Kiwi’s subsequent Attack Mode activation failed, returning the lead to Rowland.
On Lap 34, Evans successfully activated his boost, but Wehrlein’s strategic Attack Mode activation allowed him to overtake, leaving him a clear run to the finish and secure the drivers’ title.
Evans, unable to maintain his pace, finished as the championship runner-up once again.
Rowland comfortably claimed the final race victory of Season 10, while Wehrlein’s second-place finish secured his maiden title by a seven-point margin over Evans.
Cassidy finished third in the standings. Despite the setback for the drivers’ championship, Jaguar celebrated their first top-tier motorsport title since 1991 by lifting the team trophy.
In a double victory for Jaguar, the British team also secured the inaugural manufacturers’ trophy, narrowly edging out Porsche by four points.
“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 in 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,” said Wehrlein, a former Formula 1 driver.
Evans was not happy with the outcome and questioned Jaguar’s strategy calls.
“I want to be happy for the team for winning the Teams’ Championship, but I feel like we’ve been off our game this weekend and also a bit surprised at some of the calls made against me today. A lot of discussions will be held,” he said. PTI BS UNG 7/21/2024
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