Pascal Wehrlein recovered from a lowly starting place to score valuable points with a P7 finish amidst the difficult track and weather conditions that characterized the second Monaco E-Prix encounter of the weekend in the Principality.

After not making it through into the Quarter-Final Duels, MIM-contracted Wehrlein had to start the 30-lap race from row 5, in tenth place on the grid, but around the wet but drying Grand Prix circuit following a heavy rain shower before the race, starting from that position was always going to be an uphill struggle

The German dropped down to P17 in the early stages as he was passed by a group of rivals, who all took their Attack Mode early to move through the pack. But once Pascal himself went into Attack Mode he was able to make good progress, taking three places on lap 12 and then six more from lap 19 to 23.

The final few laps saw the factory Porsche driver involved in a great battle for P6 with Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) but at the flag Pascal had to settle for seventh as Sebastien Buemi (Envision) took a comfortable win from Oliver Rowland (Nissan) and Nick Cassidy (Jaguar).

‟It was particularly tricky in the beginning,” declared Pascal. “I started in P10 but quickly went down to P17 just with poor grip as the tyre warm-up was very bad. Once the track started to dry out the pace was really good. We started to progress forwards and finished the race in P7. There’s a trend this weekend that we are struggling with tyre warm-up. We have a lot to analyse and learn so that we can have a good second half of the season.”

With this weekend’s results, Wehrlein drops into third overall in the standings, one point and one place behind his TAG Heuer Porsche teammate Da Costa.

CLASSIFICATION: 1. Rowland (Nissan) 115 pts; 2. Da Costa (Porsche) 67; 3. Wehrlein (Porsche) 66; 4. Barnard (McLaren) 54; 5. De Vries (Mahindra) 52; 6. Dennis (Andretti) 44, etc.

NEXT ROUND: 17/18 May, Tokyo E-Prix (Japan)

Photos: Courtesy of Porsche