Defending Formula E champion Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) took his first win of the year in a chaotic and eventful Miami E-Prix at a scorching hot part-oval, part-road Homestead International Speedway in Florida.
Starting ninth on the grid after Qualifying, Pascal kept a cool head in the final few laps after the race was red flagged for a three-car incident on lap 21 of 26, the German eventually crossing the finish line in second place, edged out at the chequered flag by polesitter Norman Nato (Nissan).
But the win and the maximum points went to the MIM-contracted driver as Nato – unlike Wehrlein – had failed to use up all of his remaining Attack Mode before the finish following the race interruption, thus incurring a penalty as per the regulations.
It was an intelligent and strategically impeccable race by Wehrlein, who so far has been out of luck in this early start to the season. Running in around P10 for the first half of the race, the Porsche driver began to rapidly move up the field after taking his first Attack Mode on lap 14. He soon caught and passed his TAG Heuer teammate Antonio Felix Da Costa for the lead on the next lap, and the two Porsches were then heading for a dominant 1-2 victory until the multiple incident at the chicane involving Hughes (Maserati), Guenther (DS Penske) and Evans (Jaguar).
With Da Costa’s Attack Mode advantage wiped out during the Safety Car / Red Flag period, Pascal took advantage of his final four-minute boost after the restart to power to the line, where he finished behind Nato but just ahead of Robin Frijns (Envision).
“It was a super chaotic race!” declared a delighted Pascal on the podium. “I don’t know what to say, because at one point I thought my race was done when David (Beckmann) and me touched in the chicane and he went off there. I felt that my steering was a bit bent afterwards and I thought my race was over. But then I did two corners, and the car felt kind of okay. I made progress to the front, then obviously in the end I was a bit lucky with the safety car, to be honest. But I think we have had enough bad luck this year, so we can also be lucky for once. A great job by everyone for bringing home this result!”
“I knew that all the cars behind still had an Attack Mode to do, some of them six minutes, and my team kept me informed who was in the six minutes but I still wanted to finish the race in P1 over the line. I tried, but the grip with 350 Kw and the four-wheel drive is just so much more. But I knew that there was a penalty coming for Nato and so it is what it is.”
It was a great day for the TAG Heuer Porsche team, which scored its first win of the year with Wehrlein and placed the out-of-luck Da Costa in third. Pascal now moves up into third place in the standings behind leader Rowland and his Portuguese teammate, as Formula E heads to MIM’s home race in Monaco for the next round.
CLASSIFICATION (after 5 rounds): 1. Rowland (Nissan) 68 pts; 2. Da Costa (Porsche) 54; 3. Wehrlein (Porsche) 51; 4. Barnard (McLaren) 51; 5. Guenther (DS Penske) 37; 6. Hughes (Maserati) 27; 7. Dennis (Andretti) 27; 8. Mortara (Mahindra) 27, etc.
NEXT ROUND: 03/04 May, Monaco E-Prix
Photos: Courtesy of Porsche
