Pascal Wehrlein claimed a vital win in the London E-Prix to propel himself into the lead of the Formula E drivers’ championship by three points with one race remaining.
The Porsche driver beat polesitter and title rival Mitch Evans to victory during the 39-lap race at London’s ExCeL, moving from third to first in the drivers’ standings as previous championship leader Nick Cassidy recovered to finish seventh from 17th.
While Evans got the perfect launch to lead into Turn 1 at the start, from third Wehrlein challenged front-row starter Sebastien Buemi but after failing to find a way through the Porsche driver was forced to go side-by-side with Norman Nato before conceding the place into the tight Turn 6/7 chicane.
Further behind, reigning champion Jake Dennis launched up the inside of Robin Frijns into the fast Turn 10/11 chicane, but as the Andretti driver hit the kerb on the inside, he made contact with the Envision.
Frijns hit the barrier on the second part of the corner, breaking his suspension which sent him back across the track and blocked the helpless Sam Bird behind.
A safety car was called to remove Frijn’s stricken machine and the Dutchman was sent to hospital for medical checks.
As racing resumed on lap five, Cassidy down in 15th went offline to take the first of two Attack Mode activations, but the Jaguar driver missed one of the sensors meaning he failed to activate it.
Any chance to take it the following lap was scuppered as Dennis and Vergne came to a halt in the middle of the corner, the Briton having tried to pass up the inside.
After rejoining, Dennis soon battled back ahead of Cassidy at Turn 3 with a robust move that damaged the latter’s steering, with Cassidy in the wars later on after contact with Stoffel Vandoorne that sent him into the barrier at Turn 7.
At the head of the field, Evans demoted Buemi for the lead having dropped behind him into Turn 1 in the early running with Wehrlein crucially following through.
On lap 22, Wehrlein made a decisive move for the lead up the inside into Turn 1 and immediately upped the pace in order to take both his Attack Modes and remain ahead of Evans.
As Wehrlein took his final Attack Mode on lap 27, he came out side-by-side with the Jaguar driver and the pair ran into Turn 17 together but on the outside line, the Kiwi had to back out.
From there Wehrlein stretched his advantage while Evans was forced to defend from Maximilian Guenther, the Maserati MSG driver one of the first to take both Attack Mode activations.
Having passed Nato at Turn 1 and then moved ahead of Buemi when the Envision driver took his second Attack Mode, Guenther found himself in second after passing Evans into Turn 10 on lap 30.
Shortly after, Nato found the barrier at Turn 1 with help from Sacha Fenestraz and a second safety car was deployed to retrieve debris and Wehrlein’s healthy lead was eradicated.
With just six laps remaining, two added on for the safety cars, Wehrlein’s job became easier as Guenther almost immediately suffered a technical problem, bringing his Maserati to a halt at Turn 13 and instigating another full course yellow.
Wehrlein was never headed thereafter to take his third win of the season which has propelled him to the top of the drivers’ standings, three points ahead of Evans who finished second and with one extra point for fastest lap.
Cassidy was able to salvage ninth on the road, but with time penalties for Dennis and Fenestraz ahead, he was classified seventh which means he is only seven points behind Wehrlein ahead of Sunday’s final race.
Formula E London E-Prix - Race 1 results
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| Cla | Driver | # | Laps | Time | Interval | km/h | Points | Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 1 |  P. Wehrlein Porsche Team |
94 | 39 |
55'15 |
25 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 2 |  M. Evans Jaguar Racing |
9 | 39 |
+1.000 55'16 |
1.000 | 18 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 3 |  S. Buemi Envision Racing |
16 | 39 |
+2.000 55'17 |
1.000 | 15 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 4 |  N. de Vries Mahindra Racing |
21 | 39 |
+2.000 55'17 |
0.000 | 12 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 5 | E. Mortara Mahindra Racing |
48 | 39 |
+14.000 55'29 |
12.000 | 10 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 6 | N. Müller Team Abt |
51 | 39 |
+14.000 55'29 |
0.000 | 8 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 7 | N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing |
37 | 39 |
+15.000 55'30 |
1.000 | 6 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 8 |  S. Bird McLaren |
8 | 39 |
+15.000 55'30 |
0.000 | 4 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 9 |  S. Vandoorne DS Penske |
2 | 39 |
+16.000 55'31 |
1.000 | 2 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 10 |  N. Nato Andretti Formula E |
17 | 39 |
+17.000 55'32 |
1.000 | 1 | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 11 |  L. di Grassi Team Abt |
11 | 39 |
+17.000 55'32 |
0.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 12 | S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team |
3 | 39 |
+18.000 55'33 |
1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 13 | D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team |
33 | 39 |
+18.000 55'33 |
0.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 14 | S. Fenestraz Nissan e.dams |
23 | 39 |
+19.000 55'34 |
1.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 15 | O. Rowland Nissan e.dams |
22 | 39 |
+21.000 55'36 |
2.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 16 | J. Dennis Andretti Formula E |
1 | 39 |
+33.000 55'48 |
12.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 17 | J. Vergne DS Penske |
25 | 39 |
+45.000 56'00 |
12.000 | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| 18 |  J. Daruvala Maserati Racing |
18 | 38 |
+1 Lap 55'50 |
1 Lap | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf | M. Gunther Maserati Racing |
7 | 33 |
+6 Laps 46'54 |
5 Laps | Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf | J. Hughes McLaren |
5 | 10 |
+29 Laps 16'19 |
23 Laps | Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf |  A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team |
13 | 6 |
+33 Laps 11'47 |
4 Laps | Retirement | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| dnf | R. Frijns Envision Racing |
4 | 0 |
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Retirement | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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