Jake Dennis has taken his second ABB Formula E victory and surged into championship contention with a spectacular showing on home soil.
The British driver managed to snatch the lead from Mahindra’s Alex Lynn when his compatriot took Attack Mode and looked to be in a league of his own as he surged away from the rest of the pack.
Meanwhile, Nyck de Vries charged through the pack from ninth to take second in final few minutes away from Lynn, who was forced to settle for third after struggling with pace throughout.
On its return to London for the first time since 2016, ABB Formula E did not disappoint around the world’s first indoor/outdoor track. Pole-sitter Lynn and Dennis sailed away from the rest of the field at lights out and were four seconds clear as the clock reached 32 minutes.
In the hunt for the podium were Sebastien Buemi and Andre Lotterer, with the Nissan e.dams and Porsche beginning to fall away from the leading duo.
Meanwhile, de Vries proved that overtaking in London was possible as he carved his way into the battles ahead. Up ahead were Buemi and Lotterer, but unfortunately the German driver missed his Attack Mode activation and enabled de Vries to get into the fight for the podium.
Mahindra’s problems with race pace continued as Lynn fell into clutches of Buemi and de Vries, suffering a heavy lock-up at the bump into Turn 10 as de Vries dived passed Buemi up the inside of Turn 10 for third.
Turn 10 proved to be a favourite hunting ground for the Dutchman, dispatching Lynn for second using his FanBoost. However, with a handful of minutes remaining, the Mercedes EQ could not catch up to Dennis, who was virtually untouchable.
Bringing home his second victory of the season on home soil, Dennis has soared from 15th to second in the Drivers’ Championship. De Vries and Lynn rounded out the podium to the delight of the home fans seeing a British 1-3 on the podium.
Buemi was forced to settle for fourth, his best finish so far this season but both he and Nissan e.dams teammate Oliver Rowland are currently under investigation for power overuse.
Lotterer finished in fifth ahead of Rene Rast, who put in another storming performance for Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler from 13th on the grid.
Teammate Lucas di Grassi brought home a double points finish for the German team after duelling with compatriot Sergio Sette Camara at Turn 17 and being forced off line.
Stoffel Vandoorne’s run of three non-points scoring finishes finally came to an end as the Mercedes EQ driver climbed his way from 14th to eighth.
Reigning champion Antonio Felix da Costa crossed the line in ninth, as Rowland rounded out the top ten.
It was a disastrous day in the office for Jaguar. Their first home race in 17 years crumbled on the opening lap after both Sam Bird and Mitch Evans were caught up in incidents and were forced to box for repairs. Evans was eventually able to finish in 19th, as Bird retired from his home race.
Fellow championship contender Jean-Eric Vergne also failed to score points and finished 14th. Yet his DS Techeetah team now move up to join first in the Teams’ Championship alongside Envision Virgin.
[motorsport_result id=’69148′]
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