TAG-Heuer Porsche factory driver Pascal Wehrlein put in a brilliant drive to get back on the podium in the first-ever Shanghai E-Prix, finishing a close runner-up behind the winner, Mitch Evans (Jaguar) after 29 laps of an electrifying, action-packed race.
Monaco Increase’s German driver, who started from P4 on the grid, was able to take the lead from poleman Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) on the second lap and then proceeded to head the field for well over half the race distance, battling it out at the front with Evans, his Porsche teammate Antonio Felix da Costa and championship leader Nick Cassidy (Jaguar), who was making up positions rapidly.
With seven laps remaining at the “Go” moment, when all-out attack takes the place of energy-saving, Wehrlein and Evans put the hammers down, but in the battle for the win Pascal was always going to be at an energy disadvantage against the two Jaguars, as he had been the pacesetter for most of the race.
Four laps from the end, Pascal was forced onto the grass by Evans at Turn 11 before the main straight, but he held on and as they started the final lap he was still in front. Evans was then able to use his extra energy to take the lead on the outside of Turn 1 and head for the win. Wehrlein had to make his Porsche as wide as possible on the final lap to finish second, holding off a desperate last-ditch attack from Cassidy, who also had an energy surplus.
“It was a tough race, in the end I think we went into the lead a bit too early and a bit for too long, that’s where Evans and the others could build an energy advantage,” declared Pascal after the race. “In the past I think we’ve been a bit too conservative, but today we were a bit too aggressive when deciding we should take the lead. It was just in the last lap because of all the defending, that my target dropped, I had to coast quite early and that’s how Mitch took me in Turn 1. It was a tough fight in the last laps with the Jaguars, Mitch clearly tried to slow me down so that Nick could pass me. A few contacts, but that’s how it is. It was hard but fair; one time when I had to pass Mitch, he forced me onto the grass, which from my point of view was a bit much but anyway we did what we could do, we kept it clean and it was a well-deserved podium for the team.”
Following today’s result, Wehrlein has been able to gain three points on Cassidy in the Drivers’ table, with tomorrow’s second Shanghai race still to come.
