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Tokyo E-Prix: Guenther resists late Rowland pressure to win

The German took the lead of the race with 10 laps remaining, having circulated inside the top three throughout and built enough of a lead to retain the top position after taking his final Attack Mode.

Having managed the pace at the head of the field, Guenther came under attack from Rowland on the final lap with the Nissan driver making three notable attempts to overtake but failing to move ahead.

Polesitter Rowland had led for the majority of the 35-lap race, having held the position off the line despite being forced to defend from Edoardo Mortara, who had jumped Guenther from the cleaner and grippier side of the grid.

Concern from drivers that overtaking around the tight and twisty layout would be difficult proved to be correct, which meant track position was crucial, and in stark contrast to other races, Attack Mode activations took place much later in proceedings.

The leading positions remained unchanged for much of the opening segment, but when Mortara was forced to defend into the Turn 6 right-hander from Guenther on lap 10, the small break allowed Rowland to take his first of two Attack Modes the following lap and retain the lead.

Mortara also took his extra boost of power on the same lap, promoting Guenther up a position before he found himself in the lead when Rowland took his second Attack Mode on lap 13.

Guenther dropped down to third on lap 14 after taking his first Attack Mode, but immediately moved back into second after passing Mortara on the run into Turn 16.

Thereafter, Guenther shadowed Rowland, and when the Nissan driver lifted off to save energy on the run into the Turn 10/11 chicane, Guenther took a lead he was never to relinquish.

Behind, reigning champion Jake Dennis finished third after an overtake on Antonio Felix da Costa three laps from the end when the Porsche driver lost momentum after an optimistic move around the outside of Rowland into Turn 15.

The Portuguese driver retained fourth at the flag ahead of team-mate Pascal Wehrlein, who had lost ground after running side by side with Dennis through the final sequence of corners, which pushed him back two positions mid-race.

Mortara had dropped to sixth at the flag after taking his final Attack Mode just five laps from the end, but he was disqualified post-race for energy over usage.

It promoted Andretti's Norman Nato to sixth and Abt’s Nico Muller to seventh, with Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy taking eighth having recovered from a starting position of 19th.

It was a difficult day for team-mate Mitch Evans, as the Kiwi finished 14th after stopping for a new front wing following contact with Robin Frijns into Turn 6, the debris bringing out a safety car as the race was extended by two laps.

Frijns also lost his front wing after contact with Nato at the same corner, with the Frenchman initially handed a five-second penalty that dropped him from sixth and out of the points.
However, this was rescinded post-race after onboard footage was provided to the stewards that showed neither driver was predominantly to blame. It meant Nato was classified sixth from Cassidy and Frijns, with Sergio Sette Camara (ERT) completing the top 10.

Japan 2024 Tokyo E-Prix

   
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Cla Driver # Laps Time Interval km/h Points Retirement
1 Germany M. Gunther Maserati Racing 7 35

53'34.665

    26  
2 United Kingdom O. Rowland Nissan e.dams 22 35

+0.755

53'35.420

0.755   21  
3 United Kingdom J. Dennis Andretti Formula E 1 35

+1.405

53'36.070

0.650   15  
4 Portugal A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team 13 35

+1.822

53'36.487

0.417   12  
5 Germany P. Wehrlein Porsche Team 94 35

+3.897

53'38.562

2.075   10  
dq Switzerland E. Mortara Mahindra Racing 48 35

+4.354

53'39.019

0.457      
6 Switzerland N. Müller Team Abt 51 35

+4.983

53'39.648

0.629   8  
7 New Zealand N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing 37 35

+5.542

53'40.207

0.559   6  
8 Netherlands R. Frijns Envision Racing 4 35

+5.929

53'40.594

0.387   4  
9 Brazil S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team 3 35

+6.504

53'41.169

0.575   2  
10 France S. Fenestraz Nissan e.dams 23 35

+7.016

53'41.681

0.512   1  
11 France J. Vergne DS Penske 25 35

+7.583

53'42.248

0.567      
12 Switzerland S. Buemi Envision Racing 16 35

+8.467

53'43.132

0.884      
13 United Kingdom J. Hughes McLaren 5 35

+8.859

53'43.524

0.392      
14 New Zealand M. Evans Jaguar Racing 9 35

+9.316

53'43.981

0.457      
15 France N. Nato Andretti Formula E 17 35

+9.573

53'44.238

0.257      
16 Belgium S. Vandoorne DS Penske 2 35

+9.735

53'44.400

0.162      
17 India J. Daruvala Maserati Racing 18 35

+15.096

53'49.761

5.361      
18 United Kingdom D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team 33 35

+49.418

54'24.083

34.322      
19 United Kingdom S. Bird McLaren 8 34

+1 Lap

54'10.461

1 Lap      
dnf Brazil L. di Grassi Team Abt 11 17

+18 Laps

24'13.474

17 Laps     Retirement
dnf Netherlands N. de Vries Mahindra Racing 21 17

+18 Laps

24'14.011

0.537     Retirement
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