RND 15 – London E-Prix

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The half hour session at the unique indoor-outdoor ExCeL Circuit in the afternoon heat in London saw all 22 drivers take to the track to prep ahead of the all-important finale double-header.

Of the title contenders, Evans placed best with the fourth fastest time, just 0.065s shy of Vergne’s session benchmark. The Kiwi’s compatriot, teammate and standings leader Nick Cassidy wound up almost four-tenths back from the ultimate pace and 11th.

Form man and reigning champion Jake Dennis – the man with by far the best record in London – find himself down in 15th with plenty to work through to get his Andretti up the grid come qualifying.

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Robin Frijns in his Envision Racing machine was at the top of the times for Free Practice 2, as the Jaguar TCS Racing powertrain looks strong.
Fresh from his back-to-back podiums in Portland, Frijns will be hoping to make it three in a row.

Brit, Oliver Rowland was second, with Sebastien Buemi in third. The Envision team claimed the Teams’ Championship at this race last year and look strong around this circuit.

The session saw all the drivers pushing their cars to the limit, with drivers coming so close to the walls and riding over the kerbs.

The last 10 minutes to the practice session saw Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, have a spin on entry into the ExCel building, but was able to get back on track in style.

Qualifying-

Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans achieved the Julius Baer Pole Position and closes the championship gap to his teammate Nick Cassidy to nine points.

The championship fight has got even closer, as the Jaguar of Mitch Evans managed to achieve pole and the three additional points whilst his teammate Nick Cassidy, struggled and will line up in 17th on the grid.

As well as a shocking result for Cassidy who leads the Drivers’ World Championship with 167 points and two races to go, there was also big results up and down the grid.

TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa will be starting ninth, with Pascal Wehrlein in third at a circuit which can prove challenge to overtake on.

The top 10 for qualifying are- Pole: Evans, P2: Buemi, P3: Wehrlein, P4: Nato, P5: Vergne, P6: Muller, P7: Rowland, P8: Frijns, P9: Da Costa and P10: Dennis.

Round 15-

Mitch Evans got off to a strong start with Buemi close behind, but it was Norman Nato who pushed his way into third after a cautious Pascal Wehrlein took things easy.

However, there was drama further back as Jake Dennis squeezed out Robin Frijns which sent him into the wall and out of the race. The incident also picked up Sam Bird, and resulted in a Safety Car.

Things got back underway by Lap 5, and saw the pack start to take their Attack Modes. One notable activation belonged to Nick Cassidy who missed one of the sensors and had to try again, losing crucial time.

Oliver Rowland was getting his elbows out, fighting and trying to pass Jean-Eric Vergne but delivered a move up the inside.
That wasn’t the only on-track battle for two-time champ JEV, as he also found himself getting tangled with Dennis and the two cars resting on top of each other for a brief moment.

Fighting for position, ROwland ended up clashing with Antonio Felix da Costa at the final corner and causing the two to come to a stop. For Rowland he was able to get going again but it was game over for da Costa as he limped back to the pits.

Buemi passed Evans for the lead on lap 10 in a lovely tidy move up the start-finish straight. Meanwhile, Dennis was out causing more trouble as he banged wheels with championship leader Cassidy.

Cassidy was also smacked into the wall as he fought Stoffel Vandoorne, but was able to continue. He also complained of his beacons not working and missed Attack Mode again when he tried to take the mandatory power boost.

Evans complained of energy issues, and was eventually passed by Maximilian Guenther for second place, yet disaster struck when his car suffered a problem and saw him drop down the order and eventually stop on track in the final stages of the race.

Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz added to the accident damage as they came together in the last moments of the race.
But Pascal Wehrlein kept his cool up in front to take his third victory of the season, with Evans behind in second and Sebastien Buemi in third.

The full top 10 are- P1: Wehrlein, P2: Evans, P3: Buemi, P4: de Vries, P5: Mortara, P6: Muller, P7: Cassidy, P8: Bird, P9: Vandoorne and P10: Nato.

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