GUNTHER AND MASERATI PLAY IT SMART TO WIN BIG IN JAPAN
Maximilian Gunther and the Maserati team scooped a shock win at the first-ever Tokyo EPrix after a slick strategy adaption paid off handsomely.
A sluggish start from second on the grid forced Gunther and the team to go bold after getting stuck behind Edoardo Mortara’s Mahindra for the early laps and allowed the polesitter Oliver Rowland’s Nissan to conduct the pace at the front.
Gunther cleared Mortara and latched on to Rowland, making a move at three-quarters’race distance to get track position, despite spending a large chunk of energy to do so.
A safety car that was deployed to retrieve debris from Mitch Evans’Jaguar, which had hit Robin Frijns’similar Envision car, constituted a slight change in energy targets and started to benefit the Maserati driver.
But with the tight confines of the new Tokyo street circuit limiting genuine overtaking places Gunther was able to hold on to the chequered flag despite a concerted effort on the final lap by Rowland to make his way through at Nissan’s home event.
“The way that Formula E is now, the slipstream’s quite powerful and I was managing to just about under-consume [the energy levels] and keep them behind before the safety car,” Rowland told MN. “Unfortunately, after the safety car the target dropped quite significantly and the lap time delta here is quite aggressive in terms of how much lap time you lose for the energy target coming down.”
A runner-up place though for Rowland was celebrated enthusiastically by the largely local audience, while Gunther’s success helped the Maserati squad toast its first victory since Jakarta last June.
Jake Dennis completed the podium for Andretti to stay in points contention in the championship, while Antonio
Felix da Costa scored his best result of the season in fourth for Porsche.
His team-mate Pascal
Wehrlein snatched fifth at the final corner from Mortara, and the Mahindra ace lost his hardfought sixth for going over the usable energy allowance.
That elevated Dennis’s Andretti team-mate Norman Nato to sixth, a position he also initially lost to the stewards before being reinstated on appeal.
Nico Muller claimed his and
Abt Cupra’s first points of the season in seventh ahead of Nick Cassidy. The Kiwi was the biggest mover in the field as he burned his way through from 19th on the grid (after a qualifying penalty) to eighth at flagfall.
Taking the final points were Frijns and ERT’s Sergio Sette Camara, the latter of whom dropped back with efficiency issues after starring in qualifying where hetook fourth on the grid.
Sao Paulo victor Sam Bird went from hero to zero after retiring early on with a steering issue, while team-mate at McLaren Jake Hughes was a delayed 14th after getting pitched in to the Turn 15 barriers by Lucas di Grassi.
Evans also missed out on the points after the accident with Frijns necessitated a change of front wing. Jaguar Racing, though, retained its team’s championship points lead, while Wehrlein’s 10 points for fifth place ensured he vaulted Cassidy to lead by two points in the driver’s title stakes.
Results
Formula E Tokyo EPrix
When: March 30 Where: Tokyo Street Circuit
Race – 35 laps: 1 Maximilian Gunther (Maserati) 53m34.665s; 2 Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +0.755s; 3 Jake Dennis (Andretti) +1.405s; 4 Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) +1.822s; 5 Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) +3.897s; 6 Norman Nato (Andretti) +4.573s; 7 Nico Muller (ABT CUPRA) +4.983s; 8 Nick Cassidy (Jaguar) +5.542s; 9 Robin Frijns (Envision) +5.929s; 10 Sergio Sette Camara (ERT Racing) +6.504s. Pole: Rowland. Fastest lap: Gunther 70.7mph. Standings (after 5/16 rounds):
1 Wehrlein 63; 2 Cassidy 61; 3 Rowland 54; 4 Dennis 53; 5 Gunther 48; 6 Mitch Evans 39.
Teams: 1 Jaguar 100; 2 Porsche 83; 3 Andretti 70; 4 Nissan 62; 5 DS Penske 57; 6 McLaren 55.