MIM-contracted driver Pascal Wehrlein finished outside the top-10 in the eighth round of the FIA Formula E World Championship in Tokyo, which was held in challenging conditions on a very wet track after a heavy rainfall.

The factory TAG Heuer Porsche driver’s charge through the field was hampered by a lowly P17 starting position, which he set in the second free practice session earlier in the morning. The worsening weather conditions then forced the subsequent Qualifying session to be abandoned and the Duels stages to be cancelled, meaning that the results in FP2 were deemed to be valid for the starting-grid.

During the chaotic 35-lap race, Pascal was actually able to rapidly move up through the field during his first six-minute Attack Mode, taking the lead momentarily on lap 26, but as his rivals cycled through their mandatory pit-stops, he was unable to make the best use of his second Attack Mode and was left with too much to do in the remaining laps.

‟P17 wasn’t an easy position to make progress from. Visibility was poor but we managed to move forwards,” declared the #1 Porsche factory driver. “Once we were in clear air we were quick, but the whole day was a bit unfortunate. I’m looking forward to tomorrow when it should be dry and a more normal day. Let’s see what we can do.”

With Stoffel Vandoorne taking the win for Maserati, a no-points score in P13 for Pascal means that the German drops one place in the overall standings, but he will have a great opportunity to turn things around in the second Tokyo E-Prix race on Sunday.

Photos: Courtesy of Porsche