Just a few days after last Saturday’s 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps endurance race in Belgium, which ended with a P9 finish for the Porsche #6 prototype crewed by Estre/Vanthoor/Wehrlein, the German driver has now arrived in Japan for the next two rounds of the global FIA Formula E World Championship in Tokyo.
In these months of May and June, the reigning world champion is in the middle of the busiest part of his season, alternating between the defence of his 2024 crown in the Formula E series and a new adventure in the World Endurance Championship, where he will be tackling the iconic 24 Hours of Le Mans in one month’s time. In both championships, the MIM-contracted driver is racing for factory Porsche teams: TAG Heuer Porsche in Formula E, for whom he is competing in his fifth season, and Porsche Penske Motorsport in the WEC.
Despite this heavy schedule, Wehrlein is keen to tackle the races in the coming weeks, starting with Rounds 8 and 9 this weekend. “I’m looking forward to Tokyo. The race sold out last year; the huge interest and the atmosphere were really cool,” he declared. “The next few weeks will be super intense, but I’m looking forward to lots of race kilometres – and hopefully some good results as well.“
The mid-point of the all-electric championship season sees another double-header event on Tokyo’s Formula E street circuit around the Big Sight Exhibition Centre. It has a 2.575 km layout with 18 turns, tight corners, several high-speed sections and a totally different asphalt surface to the previous round at Monaco.
For the first time both races will be of different lengths, Saturday’s Pit Boost race being three laps longer than the one on Sunday, which will provide a further challenge in terms of energy management.
First free practice for the Tokyo E-Prix gets underway at 0900 on Friday morning (in Europe), followed by FP2 at 0100 on Saturday morning, Qualifying at 0320 and the race at 0805. Sunday’s round 9 will follow the same timetable as Saturday.
After the two races in Monaco, Wehrlein lies third overall in the standings, with 49 points to make up on championship leader Oliver Rowland (Nissan).
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
