Race report
Formula E Valencia E-Prix II
Valencia E-Prix: Rookie Dennis scores lights-to-flag win for BMW
Jake Dennis converted his maiden Formula E pole position into a first championship win in the second Valencia E-Prix as a penalty and collision quashed the threat from second place.
Matt Kew
Edited: Apr 25, 2021, 4:16 PM
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The BMW Andretti driver led from lights to flag against expectation and remained in total control at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in a race that showcased the need to manage energy.
At a permanent track where holding first place was seen as a disadvantage while others could chase in the slipstream and pass late on, Dennis controlled the race to win by 1.5 seconds.
He led the race slowly off the line as the entire grid fell into an early procession to preserve energy for an expected late sprint finish and kept early chaser Alex Lynn four tenths behind.
Lynn looked good for the win as he stuck to the rear of Dennis’s car but when he activated attack mode he fell behind fourth-place starter Oliver Turvey as Dennis remained in first.
Dennis did not sprint away to preserve energy, meaning that when Turvey ran out of his higher power attack mode boost, Lynn was able to close back up.
But the Mahindra Racing driver was then punted from the chasing Norman Nato into the tight Turn 9 and that knocked Lynn’s car sideways and onto the gravel where he slipped to ninth.
Venturi Racing driver Nato would then be handed a five-second time penalty meaning his second place across the line became an eventual fifth.
That gave Dennis breathing space in the lead and he then slowed the pace further to allow the race timer to tick down to zero, leaving only a one-lap flat-out sprint to the flag.
That reprimand for Nato handed Andre Lotterer the second spot on the podium for Porsche as Lynn managed to recover to fourth on the road and third in the amended results.
Audi driver Rene Rast bucked the trend by activating his second attack mode very early on and that allowed the driver who started in 14th to run in contention for a surprise podium.
But severe late energy management dropped to sixth place as Nissan e.dams driver Oliver Rowland capitalised for fourth place.
Two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne converted his seventh in qualifying to the same result in the race for DS Techeetah as NIO 333 charger Turvey dropped to an eventual eighth.
The second Venturi machine of Edoardo Mortara ran to ninth as Lucas di Grassi deployed his fanboost late on to record a double overtake into Turn 1 and complete the top 10.
Dennis’ teammate Maximilian Guenther recorded from last on the grid, after his qualifying lap time was deleted, up to 12th ahead of Nick Cassidy – also recovering after his time was thrown out as well.
Defending champion Antonio Felix da Costa suffered a technical fault that meant he could not activate his attack mode, which then earned him a drivethrough penalty.
He finished 22nd ahead of Alexander Sims, the Mahindra Racing driver also taking an early trip through the pitlane after the team overcooled the car’s battery on the grid.
The only retirement was for Mercedes racer Stoffel Vandoorne, who was squeezed into an inside tyre wall in a dice with Nissan e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi in the fight for 11th.
Race results:
Cla # Driver Team Gap 1 27 Jake Dennis
Andretti Autosport 2 36
Andre Lotterer
Porsche Team 1.483 3 94
Alex Lynn
Mahindra Racing 2.428 4 22
Oliver Rowland
DAMS 2.870 5 71
Norman Nato
Venturi 5.811 6 33
René Rast
Team Abt 8.122 7 25
Jean-Eric Vergne
Techeetah 8.782 8 8
Oliver Turvey
NIO Formula E Team 11.292 9 48
Edoardo Mortara
Venturi 12.014 10 11
Lucas di Grassi
Team Abt 12.405 11 23
Sébastien Buemi
DAMS 13.295 12 28
Maximilian Gunther
Andretti Autosport 13.594 13 37
Nick Cassidy
Virgin Racing 14.329 14 10
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 15.151 15 20
Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 17.213 16 17
Nyck de Vries
Mercedes 18.444 17 88
Tom Blomqvist
NIO Formula E Team 18.885 18 99
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 19.274 19 4
Robin Frijns
Virgin Racing 19.756 20 6
Nico Müller
Dragon Racing 21.069 21 7
Sergio Sette Camara
Dragon Racing 32.079 22 13
Antonio Felix da Costa
Techeetah 59.698 23 29
Alexander Sims
Mahindra Racing 1'04.277 5
Stoffel Vandoorne
Mercedes 10 Laps View full results
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