The results of the double-header in Jakarta further muddled the Formula E standings with five rounds to go. While Pascal Werlhein regained the lead, Maximilian Guenter made things red hot.
Maserati MSG Racing has shown race-winning pace since the Italian manufacturer’s debut in the ABB FIA Formula E FIA World Championship. In fact, prior to that as it topped the pre-tests held in Valencia – but an incident-packed campaign has seen both Guenther and Edoardo Mortara struggle to turn out the lights and in race trim.
Guenther’s double podium in Indonesia backed up two days of leading every session that Formula E could throw his way. Free Practice 1 was topped by the German, then he dominated Free Practice 2 to take the Julius Baer Pole Position for Round 10.
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Longed-for Triumph
In Sunday’s race, the Maserati driver was able to break the curse of winning the podium and not clinching the win in the official laps and took the highest step to seal Maserati’s first win in world championship single-seater racing since the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio took the victory at the Nurburgring in 1957 for the Italian brand.
Add to the weekend a round result for the marque with a pair of top 10s for Mortara, and the team racked up twice as many points in one weekend as it had scored all season, as well as its big win.
If Jakarta can be a turning point for Maserati‘s fortunes, then Race 2 is an imposing benchmark. Gunther’s drive to win from pole position, never running below third, was a dominant class and culminated in the second largest winning margin of the season at 2.8 seconds.
Guenther timed things well, happy to hold fire behind Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) once the Brit had taken the lead through the first round of ATTACK MODE activations.
The telltale switch came when Guenther held his second ATTACK MODE jolt when Dennis blinked first. The German was able to generate enough of a gap to skip the Avalanche Andretti driver by the time he made the dive for his final 50kW boost.
From there, the Maserati MSG Racing driver didn’t look back and, in fact, was able to stretch his legs – taking 2.822 seconds over Dennis come the flag and more than 18 seconds over third-placed man Mitch Evans in the TCS Racing I-TYPE 6 Jaguar.
