Jake Dennis has sealed his maiden Formula E victory in Valencia following a dominant display around the Ricardo Tormo Circuit.
Jake Dennis started on pole for round six of the 2021 Formula E championship in Valencia. Alongside the BMW driver was fellow Brit Alex Lynn who was promoted to second place following a pre-race penalty for Andre Lotterer.
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Dennis made a clean start holding the lead from Lynn into the opening corners. Meanwhile, Frenchman Norman Nato made progress into P4 whilst fellow Frenchman Jean-Eric Vergne jostled with Andre Lotterer for position.
Lynn and Mahindra took the tactical decision to remain behind Dennis as the slipstream proved predictably effective.
Edoardo Mortara was one of the biggest gainers in the opening laps, making ambitious overtakes as he carved through the grid. Vergne also made progress, moving ahead of Blomqvist to seize P5 just under 10 minutes into the race.
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Di Grassi and Muller were the first drivers in the field to activate their attack modes with Turvey the first of the leading group to activate his. In the process of taking his attack mode, Turvey lost position to Nato.
In the following laps, Turvey lost further positions to both Vergne and Lotterer as both drivers used the final seconds of their attack modes to make the pass on the Nio.
However, Lotterer wasn’t done yet with another overtaking maneuver successfully made on former teammate Jean-Eric Vergne. Lotterer’s progress into fourth allowed the German driver to pursue the Venturi of Nato in third.
BATTLE FOR THE PODIUM
Despite this challenge, Nato appeared calm and collected, maintaining greater pace than both the leaders.The French driver looked set to achieve his maiden Formula E podium position until an incident with Alex Lynn.
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Lynn lost four positions after being clipped by the Venturi driver into one of the circuit’s tight corners. Despite Lynn escaping the incident without any damage, Nato was handed a five second penalty.
As the race approached it’s closing stages, fierce fighting occurred across the field. The most impressive mover was Rene Rast who methodically carved his way through the grid into third.
Yesterday’s podium sitter Stoffel Vandoorne was forced to retire due to damage following contact with Sebastian Buemi. Neither driver received a penalty with the incident declared a racing incident. A driver who did receive a penalty was Antonio Felix Da Costa, the victim of a drive through penalty for improper use of attack mode.
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In the end, it was a dominant maiden victory for British driver Jake Dennis. Norman Nato finished second on-track but after his penalty was applied, the Venturi dropped down to fifth.
As a result of this penalty, Andre Lotterer secured his first podium of the year ahead of Alex Lynn in third.
With none of the championship frontrunners gaining points in round six, all drivers will be hoping to make up for lost ground in Monaco.
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CLASSIFICATION
J. Dennis BMW I Andretti Motorsport
A. Lotterer Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team
A. Lynn Mahindra Racing
O. Rowland Nissan E Dams
N. Nato ROKIT Venturi Racing
R. Rast Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler
J.E Vergne DS Techeetah
O. Turvey NIO 333 FE Team
E. Mortara ROKIT Venturi Racing
L. Di Grassi Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler
Featured Image Credit: @BMWMotorsport
