Oliver Rowland stormed to his maiden win in the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, advancing to second place in the Drivers’ Championship as a result.
The Nissan e.dams driver started the penultimate race of the 2019/20 season from pole position after beating Robin Frijns to the top spot and remained in total control over the 45-minute + 1 lap affair.
After maintaining the lead from the outset, the British racer’s biggest challenge came with 34-minutes remaining in the race after Frijns deployed his first use of Attack Mode in an attempt to undercut the leader.
To defend from the threat, Rowland used the power boost device one lap later and nearly fell down to second as a result but successfully defended his lead into Turn 7.
Using his final use of Attack Mode with 16-minutes left – again defending from Frijns – the 28-year-old extended his lead, ultimately taking the win by 1.903s from the Dutchman behind.
The scrap for the final step on the podium was a closely contested affair between Andre Lotterer and Rene Rast, however, it was the Audi rookie who prevailed in the fight after overtaking his fellow countryman on the 36th and final lap after finding an energy advantage over the series veteran.
Lotterer ultimately took fourth following the fight to front a 4-6 result for Porsche as team-mate Neel Jani secured his first points finish of the season. Alex Lynn split the pair by completing the top five for Mahindra.
Mitch Evans equalled his best finish of the Formula E finale by taking seventh place for Jaguar ahead of Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara who took eighth after starting from 10th on the grid.
Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne completed a comeback drive by pipping Sebastien Buemi to the ninth spot as the Swiss pilot completed the top 10 in the second Nissan.
After starting from the rear of the field, DS Techeetah’s points-scoring run came to an end, with Jean-Eric Vergne taking 18th following a drive-through penalty while newly crowned champion Antonio Felix da Costa failed to see the chequered flag.