Pascal Wehrlein, of the TAG Heuer Porsche team, was the great dominator of the day at the Mexico City E-Prix that opened the 10th ABB FIA Formula E Season.
The German took pole and victory, although he is under investigation for a possible technical infringement. Envision Racing’s Sébastien Buemi and Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy completed the podium.
Wehrlein again proved his dominance in Mexico, having taken all four of his Formula E poles in the country, and the same can be said of the Porsche powertrains: they have been in the winning car in each of the last three Mexico City E-Prixes.
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Very Close in 2023
The Porsche representative, who was one of the title contenders in the car’s inaugural GEN3 campaign in 2023, started the tenth Formula E season in great fashion by dominating Saturday’s race from start to finish.
He reached a one-second gap over his pursuers by the end of the first lap and from there controlled the situation, keeping Buemi at a distance of a couple of seconds for most of the race.
Envision Racing’s Buemi followed the Porsche to the finish and took second place for the reigning world team champions. Nick Cassidy, making his debut in the official Jaguar TCS Racing I-TYPE 6 after leaving Envision at the end of last season, took third place, overtaking Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) mid-race. The latter crossed the finish line in fourth position.
Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) seemed to be struggling with his pace and the New Zealander was forced to drive defensively to hold off Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE), who had moved up from tenth on the grid.
The Frenchman had to settle for sixth place, behind Evans, but became the second driver, after Lucas di Grassi (ABT CUPRA), to surpass 1,000 points in Formula E.
18 cars reached the finish line after 37 laps of racing at Mexico City’s Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez. Envision’s Robin Frijns retired after an impact against the wall that prompted a Full Course Yellow period, while Antonio Félix da Costa of the factory Porsche team retired after an incident with ABT Cupra’s Nico Muller.
Formula E will return to action in two weeks’ time with two night races in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, on January 27 and 28.
