With a well-administered race in challenging wet weather conditions, Pascal Wehrlein started from P3 on the grid and concluded the second Shanghai E-Prix encounter of the weekend in the runner-up slot, as the top three positions remained unchanged virtually from the start.
This weekend’s results in China mean that MIM-contracted Wehrlein was able to make up nine points on championship leader Oliver Rowland (Nissan), who failed to score in this second race, as well as help Porsche in the Constructors’ title battle and TAG Heuer Porsche in the Teams’ classification.
After a deluge had led to a revised day’s schedule, the constant rain caused a delay of two hours in the start time, and once the race got underway, the first seven laps were conducted behind the safety car.
In near-zero visibility and at the rolling start, poleman Cassidy powered away into the lead, immediately opening up a gap, followed by Antonio Felix da Costa and Wehrlein, all three taking their first Attack Mode at the first opportunity. One lap later the Porsche box called for a position swap to give Pascal, who had more minutes of extra power than his teammate, a chance to pull back the gap to Cassidy.
However Wehrlein was particularly low on energy after the early laps and so he preferred to hold on to second place throughout, maintaining a stable seven-second gap from the leader and 10” over Da Costa until the chequered flag.
“The conditions were very tricky, especially in the beginning, although I think it got a little bit better towards the end. I think our pace was good, not good enough for P1, but we were quite far ahead of the guys behind,” declared Pascal. “Personally I’m very happy about the result, because today was the first time where I felt like we were very competitive in the wet, which was not the case in Tokyo and Monaco. So, I’m very happy about that, and I think we found a good way there. And at the end it was a good result for the team and great for the championship as well. We are pushing hard for the Teams’ and the Constructors’ Championship, I think the gap is probably just a bit too big in the Drivers’, but there are five more important races coming, anything can happen and we are still fighting hard for that.”
It was a good day for factory Porsche with a 2-3 finish for its two drivers and the TAG Heuer team moving to the top of the Teams’ classification.
Pascal’s next race will be the 24 Hours of Le Mans sportscar classic on June 14-15, with the next Formula E round one week later at Jakarta (Indonesia).
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
