Pascal Wehrlein celebrates with his team after winning the Drivers’ World Championship in the last few laps of the season. (Photo: Craig Evans)

Pascal Wehrlein steals the Drivers’ World Championship from Jaguar as Oliver Rowland excels in the Season 10 London Finale

In a thrilling finale of Formula E’s tenth season, it was Pascal Wehrlein of TAG Heuer Porsche who came out of the season finale as World Champion, as Nick Cassidy’s Championship attempt once again unravels around the streets of the ExCeL in London.

The final race of the season saw three drivers, Pascal Wehrlien, Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy separated by just seven points. One of the closest finale races Formula E had seen in recent years lead to a spectacular end to Season 10 and the end of the GEN3 Era of racing.

Nick Cassidy had finally managed to turn his fortunes around after a disappointing performance in Portland and a tough penultimate race in London with the Kiwi only managing to finish seventh. Cassidy was near faultless in qualifying for the final round on Sunday morning, claiming pole position ahead of Maserati’s Max Gunther and Jaguar teammate Mitch Evans.

Cassidy lead from pole and Evans overtook Gunther into the first corner putting Jaguar in a prime position to control the race around the ExCeL in London, a notoriously hard track to over take on. An early safety car, caused by Jake Dennis and Edo Mortara coming together meant Gunther lost yet another position with Wehrlein being the beneficiary, meaning that top three in the championship were now the top three on track.

 

Season 9 champion Jake Dennis had a pretty awful weekend in London this year,
failing to score in each of the two races. (Photo: Craig Evans)

 

As the race went on tensions in the Jaguar TCS racing team rose with every lap, and Evans and Cassidy started to battle on track for position allowing Wehrlein to close in. Nissan’s Oliver Rowland also made the most of the early chaos jumping from his starting position of ninth to fourth on track by lap 29.

Jaguar’s squabbling on track continued, meaning Cassidy fell down to third with Rowland right on the back of him. As the peloton of cars arrived at the newly reprofiled track at turn 15, Rowland made his move on the championship leader, putting Cassidy off line and into the path of Gunther.

The two collided on the apex, inflicting Cassidy’s car with the rear left puncture and once again his title hopes disappeared in London. It was now a
straight shoot out between Evans and Wehrlein for the title.

 

Mitch Evans leads Pascal Wehrlein in the final few laps of the ePrix, this would be
the lap before his ATTACK MODE would fail to active. (Photo: Craig Evans)

 

With eight laps to go in season 10, both still had to activate one of their two mandatory ATTACK MODES. An invalidated attempt from Evans during the yellow flag handed Rowland the lead, but a Safety Car infringement forced him to relinquish it to Evans. The Kiwi’s subsequent ATTACK MODE activation failed, returning the lead to Rowland. Lap 34 was when Evans finally activated his attack mode, but the failed attempt a couple of laps earlier had given Wehrlien the break he needed, leaving him a clear run to the finish to steal the the Drivers’ title out the hands of both Jaguar drivers.

 

Nissan enjoyed a really strong season, Oliver Rowlands finished fourth in the
Drivers’ Championship, the same position Nissan finished in the Teams’ Championship. (Photo: Craig Evans)

 

Rowland was unchallenged over the line to claim an empathetic home win, while Wehrlein’s second place finish was enough to secure him the Season 10 Formula E Drivers’ World Championship, his first in the series. Mitch Evans was runner up yet again with Jaguar teammate Nick Cassidy finishing third overall.

Despite the setback for the Drivers’ Championship, Jaguar celebrated their first top-tier motorsport title since 1991 by clinching the Teams’ World Championship. In a double victory for Jaguar TCS Racing, the British team also secured the inaugural Manufacturers’ Trophy, narrowly edging out TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team by just four points.

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