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Rachit Thukral

Jakarta E-Prix: Wehrlein wins to get title challenge back on track

Wehrlein moved into the lead of the race early on after passing both Jake Dennis and polesitter Maximilian Gunther, and then held off the duo in the closing laps to clinch his third victory of the season.

Lining up third at the start, Wehrlein made a rapid getaway from the cleaner side of the grid to immediately jump Dennis’ Andretti, before challenging the Maserati MSG of Gunther for the lead on the outside of Turn 1.

Wehrlein smartly backed off at that occasion to consolidate second position but kept the pressure up on his countryman, who had dominated the weekend until that point with the fastest times in each practice and qualifying session.

On lap four of 26, Wehrlein sent his Porsche down the inside of Gunther to take the lead in what turned out to be the race-winning move.

For the remainder of the race, it was Dennis who emerged as Wehrlein’s competitor, having recovered from dropping to fourth at the end of the opening lap behind Stoffel Vandoorne.

On lap 24, Dennis tried to make a move on the inside of Wehrlein into Turn 1 but the Porsche driver covered him off, forcing the Andretti driver to back off.

Over the final 12 laps of the race, Dennis remained within attacking distance of Wehrlein, with Gunther eventually falling behind the duo to turn it into a two-horse race for victory.

Wehrlein eventually managed to resist Dennis in a closely-fought last lap of the race, taking his first victory since the Diriyah double header in January by 0.477s.

Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6 (Photo by: Gareth Harford / Motorsport Images)

Gunther finished over a second off the leading duo in third to claim his first podium of the season, with Vandoorne ending up fourth ahead of DS Penske team-mate Jean Eric Vergne.

Points leader Cassidy climbed from 10th on the grid to finish seventh at the flag on a day where the Jaguar-powered Envision lacked the pace of the frontrunners.

Cassidy was running sixth but dropped to seventh behind the Maserasti of Edoardo Mortara when he took his final attack mode on lap 25.

Antonio Felix da Costa finished eighth in the second of the two factory Porsches, while Robin Frijns picked up his first points finish of the season in ninth for Abt ahead of the leading McLaren of Jake Hughes.

In a repeat of Hyderabad, Sam Bird crashed into Jaguar team-mate Mitch Evans, pitching the Kiwi into a spin and out of the race while battling for position in the lower regions of the top 10.

Bird survived the incident and was running inside the points until contact with McLaren's Rene Rast sent him tumbling down to 21st.

Jakarta E-Prix: Full race results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Points
1 Germany Pascal Wehrlein Germany Porsche Team 36 42'21.995   25
2 United Kingdom Jake Dennis United States Andretti Autosport 36 42'22.472 0.477 18
3 Germany Maximilian Gunther Monaco Maserati Racing 36 42'23.408 1.413 15
4 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne United States DS Penske 36 42'25.866 3.871 12
5 France Jean-Eric Vergne United States DS Penske 36 42'26.981 4.986 10
6 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara Monaco Maserati Racing 36 42'27.582 5.587 8
7 New Zealand Nick Cassidy United Kingdom Envision Racing 36 42'27.977 5.982 6
8 Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa Germany Porsche Team 36 42'42.131 20.136 4
9 Netherlands Robin Frijns Germany Team Abt 36 42'43.682 21.687 2
10 United Kingdom Jake Hughes United Kingdom McLaren 36 42'45.351 23.356 1
11 Switzerland Nico Müller Germany Team Abt 36 42'45.787 23.792  
12 Germany René Rast United Kingdom McLaren 36 42'46.997 25.002  
13 France Norman Nato Japan Nissan e.Dams 36 42'47.157 25.162  
14 United Kingdom Dan Ticktum United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 36 42'50.819 28.824  
15 Brazil Lucas di Grassi India Mahindra Racing 36 42'51.490 29.495  
16 France Sacha Fenestraz Japan Nissan e.Dams 36 42'52.817 30.822  
17 Germany David Beckmann United States Andretti Autosport 36 42'53.074 31.079  
18 Brazil Sergio Sette Camara United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 36 42'54.097 32.102  
19 Spain Roberto Merhi India Mahindra Racing 36 43'08.657 46.662  
20 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi United Kingdom Envision Racing 36 43'22.076 1'00.081  
21 United Kingdom Sam Bird United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 36 43'31.067 1'09.072  
22 New Zealand Mitch Evans United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 33 39'07.961 3 Laps  
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