After winning the first of two races in South Korea, finishing seventh wasn’t enough for Mitch Evans as Stoffel Vandoorne’s second-place finish in the Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix was enough to seal the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E Drivers’ World Championship and the Teams’ World Championship for Mercedes-EQ.
On a momentous day for Formula E that saw Edoardo Mortara (ROKiT Venturi Racing) win the 100th E-Prix race in the world’s first electric motorsport World Championship, Vandoorne’s Season 8 title also marks the end of the Gen2 era in Formula E – the second iteration of electric race car in the series – with the Gen3 race car debuting next season as the fast lightest, most powerful and efficient electric race car ever built.
Formula E’s first venture into the South Korean capital of Seoul saw Vandoorne navigate a Lap 1 melee and keep it clean throughout the rest of the race to bring the Silver Arrow 02 home in second place.
Only Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) had any chance of catching Vandoorne going into the race. But Vandoorne’s eighth podium of the season – more than any other driver – proved to be enough to see him take a maiden Drivers’ crown and hand Mercedes-EQ back-to-back Drivers’ and Teams’ titles on the German marque’s Formula E swansong.
Mortara controlled the race once he hit the front via a stunning dummy that saw him complete a successful switchback on Julius Bär Polesitter António Félix da Costa (DS TECHEETAH) on Lap 3. From there, he managed the gap and his usable energy perfectly to sign off his and Venturi’s campaign in style – the Monegasque outfit taking second in the Teams’ running ahead of DS TECHEETAH, and Mortara third in the Drivers’ Championship.
Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) drove to a strong third position, despite a tough-to-take five second penalty following a coming-together with da Costa.
Robin Frijns (Envision Racing), Oliver Askew (Avalanche Andretti), and Jean-Éric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) rounded out the top six, with Evans coming home an eventual seventh – a strong drive with little else he could have done. Nobody won more than Evans’ four races this season, but it was Vandoorne’s consistency – just one non-score and the record eight podiums – that sealed the deal.
Season 8 was the biggest to date in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with 16 races on street circuits in 10 world cities: Diriyah, Mexico City, Rome, Monaco, Berlin, Jakarta, Marrakesh, New York City, London and Seoul – both Jakarta and Seoul were debuts for Formula E.
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