Pascal Wehrlein turned solely the second driver to win a number of Formulation E titles regardless of failing to attain a degree in a contentious season finale at Excel London during which he and principal rival Jake Dennis got here to blows.
Porsche driver Wehrlein ran within the prime 5 for almost all of the 35-lap race, however issues got here to a head inside the ultimate 10 laps when exterior title contender Mitch Evans lastly labored his means onto the rear of Wehrlein’s automobile and Evans’s Jaguar team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa got here into play.
Evans – who as on Saturday had spent a lot of the race annoyed behind the second works Porsche of Nico Mueller – took assault mode instantly and, in a brilliantly executed transfer, da Costa held Wehrlein up sufficient to permit Evans to swoop previous the pair and into fourth place.
However da Costa’s work was not completed there and he resisted any try by Wehrlein to come back again via, with that sequence coming to a head a lap later as his defensive driving allowed 4 vehicles to cross him and Wehrlein – certainly one of which was crucially the client Porsche of Dennis.
Andretti driver Dennis had certified a lowly sixteenth and spent nearly all of the race in that decrease attain of the pack, conserving vitality, however got here alive within the closing levels and for a quick second was forward of Wehrlein by a degree within the reside drivers’ standings whereas he ran seventh and Wehrlein sat annoyed nonetheless behind da Costa.
But the necessity for almost all of drivers to take assault mode for a second time in the end introduced the 2 title contenders collectively once more.
With the pair working ninth and tenth, Dennis obtained delayed briefly behind Joel Eriksson and that gave Wehrlein sufficient of a spot to lunge across the exterior via the Flip 16 right-hander. He and Dennis ran side-by-side all the way down to Flip 17, the place Wehrlein tagged the rear of Eriksson’s automobile – sending the Envision-Jaguar right into a spin and Dennis into the wall.
Dennis emerged from that forward however now nicely exterior the factors, and pitted the next lap for a tyre change, with Wehrlein nursing his Porsche residence to the end through one other da Costa run-in – with no love misplaced between these two former team-mates.
Wehrlein’s radio message whereas they duelled, during which he referred to as da Costa a “sore loser” and added “f***ing beat him three years in a row”, and a five-second penalty post-race (transformed for a three-place grid drop for the primary race of the Gen4 period) for colliding with Eriksson took some shine off the consequence, however he nonetheless ended up categorized in 14th – profitable the title by the five-point buffer he began the day with.
Evans’s late cost to the entrance got here slightly too late – as he completed his closing race with Jaguar in fourth, leaving him 9 factors wanting Wehrlein within the standings in third place.
Forward of him, the Mahindras had dominated proceedings after locking out the entrance row in qualifying however Taylor Barnard cycled via into the lead of the race unseen then held off Nyck de Vries on the ultimate lap to provide DS Penske victory in DS’s closing race as a Formulation E model.
De Vries was backed up by team-mate Edoardo Mortara in third, permitting Mahindra to leap forward of Andretti to take third within the groups’ championship – which Jaguar received by 17 factors over Porsche.
