Oliver Rowland extended his Formula E World Championship lead with a commanding Race 2 victory, leading home a chain of four British drivers in Jeddah.
The Nissan man utilised his strong package to perfection, overhauling the challenge of NEOM McLaren’s Taylor Barnard, who took second after a fraught final few laps, fending off the challenge of Maserati MSG Racing’s Jake Hughes.
Jake Dennis was the fourth of the British quartet to come home, overtaking Jean-Eric Vergne’s DS Penske in the final few corners, who dropped to seventh.
Nick Cassidy made good of a bad weekend with fifth place, with the second Maserati of Stoffel Vandoorne storming through to finish sixth, having started at the back.
Pascal Wehrlein was eighth, with Dan Ticktum scoring points for the second time this season with ninth, as Edoardo Mortara took the final points position in 10th place.
For Rowland, the pre-season chatter of a potential world title challenge was now looking to be well-placed.
How the race unfolded
At lights out, Barnard covered-off Rowland as Hughes took Rowland for second, and into Turn 4, chaos ensued.
On the entrance, Guenther showed too much enthusiasm and punted Antonio Felix da Costa sideways, sending both men to the back of the field.
Into Lap 2, Hughes looked keen to take Barnard’s lead, as the second McLaren of Sam Bird was now sitting in fourth, with de Vries fifth and Ticktum up three places to sixth.
Robin Frijns was another big mover in the pack, now in ninth, one place ahead of David Beckmann, as Guenther pitted, his race over. Da Costa was also out, his title lead that he took into the weekend firmly out of his grasp.
Barnard continued to lead, heading up a British 1-2-3-4, with Vergne in fifth, who then displaced Bird for fourth.
Lucas di Grassi was the first to take Attack Mode, and worked this way up to 10th, as Evans, Wehrlein and Cassidy all struggled to make headway.
Vergne was now third, touching Rowland as he muscled through for the position, as Ticktum took Bird on the outside of Turn 2 for fifth.
Di Grassi was now fourth with a minute of Attack Mode remaining, taking the fastest lap so far as he took third, and then quickly grabbed second, with Barnard holding off the veteran’s challenge.
Wehrlein was now in Attack Mode, and quickly gained three places and sat in 11th. Beckmann was now also in Attack Mode, as Wehrlein went up to 10th.
With di Grassi’s Attack Mode over, he slid down to fourth with Ticktum snapping at his heels, but the Kiro was to lose position to Wehrlein, who moved up into fourth ahead of di Grassi.
Rowland now led, with Barnard tucking in behind Vergne and Wehrlein. Frijns’ progress was continuing, now in seventh, as Cassidy set the fastest lap in Attack Mode, now up to 11th.
The Kiwi was now in eighth on Lap 9, and then seventh as three tenths was the gap between Rowland and Vergne at the front.
Evans and Frijns were now in Attack Mode, the Envision’s quick start condemning him to between two to three percent of energy less than those around him.
He was however up to third, and onto the start of Lap 12, breezed by Rowland and Barnard on the entry to Turn 1, opening up a nearly a second’s gap by the end of the lap.
Evans, with Attack Mode now over, took third from Barnard, as Frijns now had around a four percent deficit on the other leading drivers, as Hughes now moved-up to third using his first Attack.
Di Grassi continued to hold a points-scoring position with ninth, as Rowland took his first Attack Mode on Lap 14, handing second to Hughes, but as the Maserati’s extra power ran out, Rowland took both the Maserati and Frijns for the lead.
Barnard was now in fifth place, yet to take an Attack, but did so on Lap 15 along with Vergne. He quickly demoted Evans to fifth, and then moved-up to second as Vergne followed into third, as Ticktum now took his first lot of extra power.
Rowland now had a lead of around 1.5 seconds, but Barnard dispatched Frijns and closed down the Nissan, taking the lead into the first corner on Lap 17, as Ticktum dispatched Frijns for fifth.
Cassidy was now in his second Attack Mode, moving-up to sixth ahead of his team-mate, as Barnard opened-up a lead of one second on Rowland, with Vergne a further half-a-second behind in third.
Cassidy was now fifth, with Dennis quietly moving his way up the field in ninth. Barnard seemed to keep his powder dry in the hectic environment, allowing Rowland to take the lead back.
Cassidy now had third, as Rowland possessed a two percent advantage on Barnard’s McLaren, with six minutes of Attack Mode still left.
Cassidy was hounding Barnard for second, as Rowland led by half-a-second. Dennis, now in his second Attack, moved-up to fifth and then fourth, and then second into Lap 24.
Into Turn 13, Dennis took Rowland for the lead, as Barnard took second from Rowland who opted for his final Attack, as did di Grassi, moving his Lola up to sixth place, with Barnard now taking his final Attack.
Evans, suffering damage, was out of the race, his promising fightback over.
Vergne was now third on his final Attack Mode, with Ticktum and Hughes doing the same in sixth and seventh, as Rowland took Dennis for the lead, with three minutes of Attack left.
Dennis looked vulnerable to a manoeuvre from Vergne, as Barnard took both of the to grab second, now less than two seconds behind Rowland, but the Nissan having an extra 40 seconds’ worth of Attack Mode still in usage.
Hughes was now fourth, with more Attack left than anyone in-front of him, as Ticktum took Dennis for fifth place.
Race Control confirmed there would be no more added laps, with two to go.
Rule Britannia as Rowland takes charge
The front three of Rowland, Barnard and Vernge used all their Attack Mode, with Hughes still with a minutes’ worth left as Rowland led by 1.7 seconds.
Barnard threw his McLaren into the penultimate chicane in pursuit, as Hughes looked to pounce. Into Turn 1, the Maserati made his move, but was forced onto the run-off, but Barnard still looked ragged, as Rowland was now two seconds up the road.
Into the final lap, and Rowland was now over three seconds clear, the Nissan looking strong in all areas, as Hughes was swarming all over Barnard, the McLaren backing-up the pack as Rowland continued to open the advantage further.
Rowland took victory comfortably, with Barnard second, Hughes third and Dennis fourth after a phenomenal final lap from the Andretti, with Cassidy snatching fifth. Vandoorne finished sixth in a superb drive from last place.
Rowland, who had already cemented a championship lead with second in Race 1, now has two wins in the bag, the first driver to do so in Season 11, firmly cementing his credentials as a World Championship favourite.
