Having finished 1-2 in the opening ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race on the streets of Rome on Saturday, Kiwi Mitch Evans went airborne to crash out of the Sunday’s race, seriously damaging his title ambitions while denting Nick Cassidy’s bid for title glory. Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti Formula E team) created Formula E history in the second race of the Hankook Rome E-Prix to reclaim the lead in the fight for the world title with just two races remaining.
Dennis was again able to keep himself out of a disaster that struck his closest title rivals Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing) and Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) close behind him on just the second lap of the race.
As Cassidy prepared to take on Dennis for the lead into the braking zone at the infamous Turn 7, Evans lost the rear of his Jaguar in the compression, clipped the leader’s Andretti and launched spectacularly over the top of Cassidy’s Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6.
“Very heatbreaking but that is the way it goes,” said Cassidy. “I went to the outside of Jake (Dennis) and don’t really know what happened after that.
“Today’s race was much shorter than yesterday’s so the pace was more flat out and very difficult to overtake. A bit disappointing with that result.”
“It all happened very quickly, I wasn’t expecting them to back up so much as I was approaching the back of Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti),” said Evans. “I tried to avoid it, but then I rode Nick Cassidy’s wheel, and it just got out of control. I feel really bad. It caught me by surprise, I was not expecting them to be that slow at the apex.
“It was a really critical time of the season, I was in an attacking mindset, I wanted to make progress and position myself into Turn 8 to get Nick, but obviously it didn’t go to plan. Feel sorry for Nick, and the Envision Racing guys. This has obviously really hurt my championship now.”
It was another huge moment in the battle for the Drivers’ title and Dennis took full advantage. Evans’ damage proved terminal after he limped back to the pits while Cassidy could only recover to finish in 14th and outside of crucial points for the Kiwi who started the race leading the title fight by five points over Dennis.
From there, Dennis looked assured and was able to dominate the race to finish three seconds ahead of Norman Nato (Nissan Formula E Team) in second. Nato himself fought valiantly to hold off Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) for the duration despite suffering early damage to his front wing.
That was the first lights-to-flag victory of the GEN3 era, and only the fourth ’grand slam’ in Formula E’s 114-race history. One of those previous grand slams was achieved by Dennis and the only driver to have achieved more than one in Formula E history. Meanwhile, more than 26,000 attended the Rome double-header race weekend to experience the non-stop world class motorsport entertainment.
The result means Dennis takes a 24-point advantage over Cassidy going into the season finale double-header in London – home soil and a circuit where he has won twice. Evans is 44 points back in third, while Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) retains a slim mathematical hope, 49 points shy of top spot.
Envision Racing lead the way in the Teams’ table by 14 points over TAG Heuer Porsche while Jaguar TCS Racing lien in third with 228 points.
As both races in Rome proved – anything can happen in Formula E, and the final weekend of the season is sure to feature more twists and turns as the championship battle reaches its exciting climax.
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