Jake Dennis put in a mature performance to take his maiden victory at the Valencia E-Prix, in what proved to be a lights-to-flag energy masterclass, beating out Porsche’s Andre Lotterer and Mahindra’s Alex Lynn.
It was a weekend of firsts for the BMW i Andretti driver. He achieved his first Formula E points yesterday and has added a victory to his maiden pole position earlier today.
An all-British front two rows saw him get a strong start off the line, ahead of Lynn and the NIO 333 duo of Tom Blomqvist and Oliver Turvey. However, Turvey quickly found his way past his team-mate at Turn 1, as ROKiT Venturi’s Norman Nato also passed him up into fourth.
Strategy proved to be crucial, with Dennis at a clear disadvantage up front. The British driver was unable to rely on the slipstream, which forced him to be careful whilst regenerating his battery. As a result, Lynn kept closely behind the BMW and waited for the right opportunity to pounce.
As the top three of Dennis, Lynn and Nato activated their attack mode later on, it appeared that both the Mahindra and ROKiT Venturi misjudged their gaps. Dennis retained the lead as Turvey jumped the other two cars and went up into second.
Sadly for the NIO 333 team, Turvey began to slip down the order, being passed by Lynn, DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne, Porsche’s Andre Lotterer and Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland in relatively quick succession.
After starting down in 17th, Mercedes EQ’s Stoffel Vandoorne had managed to charge his way up to 10th. Another driver putting in a stellar performance was Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Rene Rast, who had already made his way up to sixth.
However, Lynn’s race did not go to plan as he was caught out by Nato behind, who hit the rear of the Brit’s car and sent him down to sixth.
Following his surprise podium yesterday, Vandoorne’s race came to a disappointing end. In front of him, Lynn dived up the inside of Sebastien Buemi and the Nissan e.dams driver then squeezed Vandoorne into the wall at Turn 9, forcing the Belgian driver to retire.
With 10 minutes remaining, Dennis pulled 1.8 seconds clear of Nato and Lotterer, whilst Lynn’s charge back to podium continued, passing both Rowland and Rast, and put his Mahindra up into fourth.
Dennis on the other hand, had controlled the race from the start, despite being in the position nobody wanted. Unusually, due to concerns about energy consumption, no driver wanted to lead the race until the final few laps.
However, the 25-year-old Brit denied them the opportunity, after being told to slow down by a second in the final sector to run the 45-minute clock down, turning the race into a last-lap sprint to the chequered flag.
Dennis crossed the line first for his maiden Formula E victory, 1.4 seconds ahead of Nato and Lotterer. However, as Nato received a 5- second penalty for his contact with Lynn, he was demoted to fifth.
Lotterer took second for Porsche, whilst Lynn achieved his first podium in the series. Behind him was fellow Brit, Oliver Rowland, who took fourth for Nissan e.dams.
Rast proved to be the leading Audi on track today, finishing sixth after starting down in 14th. Vergne was forced to settle for seventh, as Turvey brought his NIO 333 home in eighth.
Mortara was ninth, with the second Audi of Lucas di Grassi completing the points scorers in tenth.
None of top five championship contenders scored any points, with Jaguar’s Sam Bird and Mitch Evans the highest finishers in 14th and 15th, respectively. Mercedes EQ’s Nyck de Vries was 16th, whilst his team-mate retired from the race.
As a result, the top five in the drivers’ standings remain unchanged, with de Vries ahead of Vandoorne on 57 points, whilst the 25 points for victory have seen Dennis jump up into eighth.
Additionally, the top of the teams’ championship remains the same as all three frontrunners failed to score. Mercedes EQ lead the way on 105 points, ahead of Britain’s Jaguar Racing and Envision Virgin Racing.
Thoughts now turn to Round 7 of the 2020-21 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, with the Monaco E-Prix scheduled to take place in a fortnight, on May 8.
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