Formula E’s Pascal Wehrlein had a dominant weekend under the lights of Diriyah, winning both races in a dream double-header for the Porsche driver.
Pascal Wehrlein came out on top over the weekend at rounds two and three of the Formula E World Championship in Diriyah, Saudi Arabia, winning both races and taking the lead in the title fight.
Wehrlein only qualified ninth on the grid. Not one to go down without a fight, however, the German driver quickly began fighting for position come race time, his Porsche cutting through the field.
By lap 14, Wehrlein had climbed to fourth, and when polesitter Sébastien Buemi went to pick up his attack mode a few laps later, the Porsche driver breezed past to settle into second place behind Jaguar’s Sam Bird.
Wehrlein was hot on Bird’s tail, and while the British driver fended him off for a number of laps, the German finally made the move stick on lap 30, diving up the inside to take first position. Bird came home third, losing a place to Mexico winner Jake Dennis who made the second step of the podium.
The next day, Wehrlein was again on top form come the start of the third race, though his improved qualifying result made things easier as he lined up fifth this time around.
With the previous night’s podium no doubt fresh in his mind, Wehrlein made quick work of moving up to fourth in the opening lap. From lap 13, the Porsche driver swiftly dispatched the McLaren of Jake Hughes and the Jaguar of Mitch Evans to put himself in second place, now staring down the papaya car of Hughes’ teammate René Rast.
On lap 17, Rast went through the attack mode section, allowing Wehrlein to move into first and charge ahead for the rest of the race with Dennis in second.
“This weekend has been incredible, a double victory. Our race pace was incredible again and today we had the perfect strategy. This weekend is one I will never forget,” Wehrlein said.
Wehrlein’s domination of the Diriyah double-header has put him on top of the championship standings heading into round four in India next week, displacing Dennis with 68 title points to the Briton’s 62.
But just as Wehrlein was ahead all weekend, Dennis was all over the back of him in both races, and is no doubt looking to retake the championship fight next time out on the streets of Hyderabad.
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