After the top spot of the Championship being decided, Oliver Rowland takes his first win for Formula E and moves to 2nd in the Driver Standings.
With what seemed like an easy lead out front, Rowland commanded the field to secure the win for Round 10. Rowland got a very good start to put himself in that important position. Looking back to other cars, Jean-Eric Vergne seemed very slow off the line, falling further back.
Things all looked safe round the first coupld of corners until we got to turn 4. Three drivers of Sam Bird, Daniel Abt and Nyck De Vries came together but, miraculously, all kept running. This caused all three to drop down the field, Bird losing out the most with 8 places.
Another collision saw Maximilan Gunther being shunted by Lucas Di Grassi which gave the BMW driver a puncture. Moving back to the front of the pack, Robin Frijns was nose to tail with Rowland but could not find a way past. Season 6 champion, who started right at the back, overtook another driver of Oliver Turvey, moving up into 16th. Attack Mode was then activated with 41 minutes remaining.
Our first retirement saw Gunther out due to the damage to his tyre. We then saw Bird in the pit lane with a tyre pressure issue, but we rejoined the race, albeit at the back. Unfortunately for the DS Techeetah Driver, Vergne, his bad luck in this season continued with being under investigation. This was then later transferred to a 5 second time penalty for battery over cooling at the start.
With 37 minutes and 35 seconds remaining, one of many duels began. Andre Lotterer and Alex Lynn were seen fighting many times throught the E-Prix. In this particular moment, it was Lotterer who got the upper hand and overtook the Mahindra driver. Neel Jani, who started the race in 3rd, took Attack Mode and managed to stay ahead of Lotterer.
Frijns then took Attack Mode, and much like the drivers behind, stayed in front of Jani to keep 2nd place. The collision between Di Grassi and Gunther, which Jerome D’Ambrosio also got mixed up in, was deemed under investigation. This then came out as no further action necessary for all the cars. Continuing with drivers taking Attack Mode, race leader Rowland took his first one and stayed ahead of rival Frijns.
A fight for 13th place brewed down the line with Mitch Evans, Stoffel Vandoorne, Antonio Felix Da Costa and Di Grassi. Vandoorne continuing his overtaking streak by moving up 3 places from the start. All four drivers were in Attack Mode which saw the order change multiple times. Through overtaking and other cars using their boosts, Evans moved to 9th and Vandoorne up to 11th.
As for Da Costa and Di Grassi, they did not benefit as the newly crowned Champion hit the old Champion, sending him into a spin. This left Da Costa in 15th place and Di Grassi at the back. Felipe Massa, who started the race in the top 10, seemed to have a slight issue. We saw Alexander Sims and Vandoorne pass him in quick succsession, droping him down to 12th.
Tom Blomqvist, stepping in James Calado’s seat for Panasoinc Jaguar Racing, started in 6th position. He was holding his own well at the start but then began to lose the pace. This allowed Eduardo Mortara to overtake for 7th position. Blomqvist then took Attack Mode and lost 3 places whilst off the racing line. The Brit was able to retake Sergio Sette Camara but left himself quite a bit to make up.
Setting our sights back on Lotterer and Lynn, both drivers had not used either Attack Modes with less the half the race to go. Lynn then decided to use his first one, instead of waiting for Lotterer to move first, and lost 3 places down to 6th. Lotterer then used his Fanboost and Attack Mode to try and keep his position. The German driver stayed ahead of Jani but lost a position to Rene Rast.
Another duel we saw multiple times saw Lynn again, but this time, fighting Jani for track position. Lynn tried extremely hard to get past the Porsche driver but could not make it stick. He then took Attack Mode and continued to push at every opportunity, but sadly, stuck behind Jani. Further down, we saw Vandoorne and Da Costa move up places by overtaking Sims with 12 minutes remaining. Sims then lost another spot to Sebastian Buemi, who had climbed from the back up to 12th.
Buemi seemed to sense that a few more points were for the taking. The Nissan driver pulled off a bold move, cutting infront of Da Costa, climbing even further to 11th. Sims then copied the move a few turns later, dropping the new Champion down to 13th.
Another man itching for as many points as possible was Mercedes driver, Vandoorne. Gaining 8 places so far and holding 10th position, Vandoorne activated his Fanboost to go round the outside of Blomqvist and up into 9th. This then left the door open for Buemi to sneak through and get into the points. Whilst all this was happening further back, Rowland held a 1.4 second gap to Frijns with 7 minutes to go.
Despite being in a comfortable top 10 position, Vandoorne was the only driver in the first half who needed to activate his second Attack Mode. He took this with 5 minutes left, losing a place to Buemi. Of course, this did not last long, as with the Belgian having the extra power, retook the Swiss later in the lap. Moving back to the top 5, we saw Rast try a move on Lotterer but had to concede, staying in 4th.
More heartache for Di Grassi as he was given a 5 second penalty for causing a collision with Da Costa. Action began to heat up with 2 minutes left on the clock as Lynn overtook Jani for 5th position. Rast also fancied moving up the order, which would give him his first Formula E podium, by hunting down Lotterer. The two drivers went wheel to wheel, literally, a few times on the last lap but, with extra energy, Rast got the move down and gained 3rd place.
Ahead of the German Audi Sport driver, came Frijns in 2nd place but the driver who deserves all the praise today, is Rowland who secured his first ever win in Formula E. As celebrations began at the top, heartbreak happened down the pack as we saw Da Costa falling down and ending up not finishing the race. It was then announced that Rast and Lotterer were under investigation for their scuffles on the last lap. Rast did receive the 3rd place trophy despite this announcement.
Formula E Commentator, Jack Nicholls, spoke to Rowland on his victory lap and congratualted the Brit on his maiden win. Rowland replied “it feels amazing you know, we worked so hard for this. The car was amazing and I managed to energy really well”. Rowland joins a long line of new Formula E Winners.
Before we move into the last of Season 6, Rowland has jumped from 9th to 2nd in the Driver’s Championship. 3 points ahead of previous Champion, Vergne. Evans and Lotterer have also moved up, both sitting with 71 points. Nissan crawls further away from BMV, with Envision Virgin moving ahead of Mercedes-Benz EQ.
Please check back tomorrow for the final race of the Season which is sure to be an exciting one. We will bring you all the lastest news and results for Formula E.
Feature Image Credit: ABB FIA Formula E Official Website
