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Autosport
Autosport
Sport
Stefan Mackley

Rome E-Prix: Dennis wins as Evans/Cassidy collide

The Andretti Autosport driver took a lights-to-flag victory having never been headed from pole during the 24-lap contest, but only after resisting intense early pressure from Nissan’s Norman Nato and Jaguar’s Sam Bird who completed the podium. 

Bird’s team-mate Evans was forced to retire after colliding with fellow Kiwi and championship leader Cassidy at Turn 7 on the second lap as the pair ran in tandem behind Dennis. 

The Jaguar driver locked the rear axle under braking and ran into the back of Cassidy, which launched Evans into the air and then barrier as Cassidy took to the escape road. 

The safety car was deployed to remove debris, with both Evans and Cassidy rejoining at the back of the field. 

After stopping for a new front wing Evans, who had taken victory in Saturday’s opening Rome E-Prix, rejoined for two more laps before retiring in the pits. 

Envision Racing’s Cassidy, who entered the race two points ahead of Dennis in the standings, never recovered and finished 14th after contact with Andretti’s Andre Lotterer on the final lap at T14 which is under investigation. 

Once the safety car had headed to the pits following the Evans and Cassidy crash, Dennis led from Nato, Bird and Dan Ticktum, with Nato making small contact on the back of the Andretti machine three laps later into Turn 17 which damaged his front wing. 

Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6 (Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images)

The damage meant Nato struggled to match the pace of Dennis for the remainder of the race, which proved critical in the closing laps. 

Bird moved ahead shortly after Nato suffered the damage and pressured Dennis hard over the following laps, with his strongest effort coming on lap 12 into the 90-degree left of Turn 7. 

Unable to find a way past, Bird dropped back behind Nato after activating his final Attack Mode on lap 18. 

Although with significantly more energy over the final laps, Bird was unable to find a way past Nato as the pair finished three seconds behind Dennis. 

The Maserati’s of Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Gunther claimed fourth and sixth respectively having shadowed the leaders throughout, as Envision’s Sebastien Buemi finished between them. 

Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein took seventh having started down in 15th, as Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske), Dan Ticktum (NIO 333) and Nico Muller (Abt Cupra) completed the top 10. 

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Interval km/h Points
1 United Kingdom Jake Dennis United States Andretti Autosport 24 45'04.323        
2 France Norman Nato Japan Nissan e.Dams 24 45'07.428 3.105 3.105    
3 United Kingdom Sam Bird United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 24 45'07.956 3.633 0.528    
4 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara Monaco Maserati Racing 24 45'08.680 4.357 0.724    
5 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi United Kingdom Envision Racing 24 45'09.327 5.004 0.647    
6 Germany Maximilian Gunther Monaco Maserati Racing 24 45'09.726 5.403 0.399    
7 Germany Pascal Wehrlein Germany Porsche Team 24 45'15.909 11.586 6.183    
8 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne United States DS Penske 24 45'16.274 11.951 0.365    
9 United Kingdom Dan Ticktum United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 24 45'16.886 12.563 0.612    
10 Switzerland Nico Müller Germany Team Abt 24 45'17.636 13.313 0.750    
11 United Kingdom Jake Hughes United Kingdom McLaren 24 45'18.830 14.507 1.194    
12 Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa Germany Porsche Team 24 45'22.357 18.034 3.527    
13 Germany René Rast United Kingdom McLaren 24 45'25.352 21.029 2.995    
14 New Zealand Nick Cassidy United Kingdom Envision Racing 24 45'32.798 28.475 7.446    
15 France Jean-Eric Vergne United States DS Penske 24 46'30.946 1'26.623 58.148    
16 France Sacha Fenestraz Japan Nissan e.Dams 23 46'34.025 1 Lap 1 Lap    
17 Germany Andre Lotterer United States Andretti Autosport 23 43'35.296 1 Lap      
18 Brazil Sergio Sette Camara United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 23 43'48.004 1 Lap 12.708    
19 Netherlands Robin Frijns Germany Team Abt 18 35'13.022 6 Laps 5 Laps    
20 Spain Roberto Merhi India Mahindra Racing 12 24'56.735 12 Laps 6 Laps    
21 Brazil Lucas di Grassi India Mahindra Racing 12 25'34.526 12 Laps 37.791    
22 New Zealand Mitch Evans United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 4 12'15.688 20 Laps 8 Laps    
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