FE | Saudi Arabia: Dennis dominates the first round beating Vergne

2024 is also the start of the Porsche world championship. If in Mexico it was Pascal Wehrlein's official single-seater that won the stage, in the first round of the weekend in Saudi Arabia it was the customer 99X Electric of the Andretti team with Jake Dennis that won.

The British driver in fact achieved victory with a race of great tactical astuteness, which saw him wait patiently in the first laps after starting from third place behind Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans. The Frenchman from DS easily maintained the lead after the traffic lights went out and was the first to decide to go into Attack Mode to avoid trailing his rivals.

As we had already seen in Mexico and in Season 9, the tendency is to exploit the period of extra power as soon as possible, so as to then be able to concentrate on managing the battery over long distances. In the same way, in fact, Evans also followed the same tactic, leaving the way free for Jake Dennis: this was precisely one of the decisive moments because, although he could not count on the extra power boost, the Briton managed to make the difference in clear track, returning to second place when he then activated his first Attack Mode during the seventh lap.

A scenario that then recurred in an almost substantially identical manner also during the second Attack Mode: Vergne once again opened the proceedings, finishing behind Evans, who acted as a stopper, slowing down the Frenchman's pace. Managing to make the difference on a clear track, Dennis immediately took advantage of it, deciding to move into the power boost activation zone as soon as he had confirmation that he would return ahead of Vergne.

A tactic that proved successful, because from that moment on the Andretti driver was able to express his pace undisturbed, extending until he passed under the checkered flag with a large advantage of 13 seconds. A superiority so clear that it marked the record lap of the race in the penultimate lap, as a true test of strength.

Behind him was a stoic Vergne, who defended himself tooth and nail at the end against his opponents' comeback, in particular Evans. In the final stages the Frenchman could in fact count on a lower percentage of energy, which allowed his rivals behind him to close the gap that had formed in the central phase of the race to attempt the attack.

The last moments of the race were very exciting for the DS standard bearer, who acted with broad shoulders like last year in India, repelling the attack of Evans, who ended up wide in turn 18 after an attempt at the limit. Despite suffering from balance problems, which he complained about for much of the race, the New Zealander in fact attempted the final assault by braking on the dirt, but ended up wide: this caused him to slip from the podium area to fifth place overall.

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3, Sam Bird, NEOM McLaren Formula E Team, e-4ORCE 04, Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, Maximilian Gunther, Maserati Racing, Maserati Tipo Folgore, Pascal Wehrlein , Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Teammate Nick Cassidy and Sam Bird took advantage of this, having had a good weekend with McLaren on a track where he often performed well. JEV's difficulties at the end have in fact allowed the group to compact, so much so that seven riders can be counted within a margin of just three seconds.

Sixth place for Norman Nato, who actually commanded the group for a long time behind the leading trio. In the early stages, Dennis, Vergne and Evans had managed to take off, while behind them, given that the group had remained compact, no one had tried to go Attack Mode so as not to lose too many positions. Only when someone chose to activate the power boost did the group begin to break up, giving Cassidy and Bird the opportunity to make the difference.

Good seventh place for Max Gunther in the first Maserati, who remained in the group for a long time behind the leading trio without much room for maneuver having started from eighth place. The German fought for a long time with his compatriot and world championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, eighth at the finish line, as well as with Sette Camara's ERT. For the small British team, which was born on the ashes of NIO, the ninth place finish achieved by the Brazilian driver represents a great result, as do the first points of the season after a great qualifying in the afternoon. Clearly over the long distance the ERT has paid in terms of management and energy efficiency, but the top ten obtained today represents an encouraging sign, although during the course of the season there will be more challenging tracks from this point of view.

Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

Tenth place for Robin Frijns with Envision Racing: it wasn't a simple first day for the reigning champion team, in which it paid the price especially for a qualifying in which it was unable to access the duels with either of the two drivers. Also outside the top ten were Jake Hughes with the second McLaren, Oliver Rowland with the Nissan and Stoffel Vandoorne with his DS Penske, who remained in the area of ​​fourteenth position for a long time. Antonio Felix Da Costa disappoints, having once again achieved a subpar qualifying which forced him to fight with the group at the bottom of the standings, together with the two Mahindras and the two ABT Cupras.

Closing out the classification are rookie Dehan Jaruvala in the other Maserati and Dan Ticktum, who however suffered a problem in the initial stages, immediately experiencing a significant gap which it was not possible to close without the presence of the Safety Car phases. The only withdrawn from the race was Sacha Fenstraz, forced to return to the pits at the end of the first lap.