Pascal Wehrlein took the chequered flag in twelfth place in the opening round of the Shanghai E-Prix weekend as the TAG Heuer Porsche team encountered a difficult day all round.

The German, who qualified third on the grid at the Shanghai International Circuit after an excellent run, got off to a fantastic start from row 2, immediately powering to the front and grabbing the lead from poleman Max Guenther (DS Penske) on the outside of Turn 1 on the opening lap.

But he was unable to maintain that position in the early stages of the 29-lap race and was sucked into the pack as the entire field circulated around the shortened F1 Grand Prix circuit in peloton-style formation.

Pascal powered up his first Attack Mode on lap 8 and then his second on lap 14, which took him back into contention, the German running in the top 3 for several laps. He then took his mandatory Pit Boost on lap 18 in an attempt to undercut the leaders Guenther, Oliver Rowland (Nissan) and Taylor Barnard (McLaren).

Emerging from the pits in P2, Wehrlein ran in the leading group for the next five laps but he was down on energy compared to his rivals and was unable to offer a challenge in the final stages and finished outside the points as the DS Penske team took a 1-2 victory.

‟It was a very strange day in the office,” declared Pascal. “This morning in practice I was 18th, then in qualifying on fresh tyres we performed well with P3. Then, with used tyres in the race we dropped far back. We did not have the grip and pace that we expected after qualifying so we need to analyse that. Tomorrow is a different day. It might be raining so we need to change the car anyway but there is a lot to learn from today because at certain times we were fast and others far from the pace without doing much on the car. It’s another day tomorrow.”

Pascal will have another chance to make up points in the overall standings in tomorrow’s eleventh round of the Shanghai E-Prix.

Photos: Courtesy of Porsche