An atmosphere worthy of a fantasy film, an impressive drone show and a beautiful night race: these were some of the ingredients that made the first of the weekend's two Formula E races a success.
But before the show, of a very high level after the less dynamic race a fortnight ago in Mexico, the day was marked by a series of events that highlighted the quality of the two DS E-TENSE FE23s.
During the first testing session on Thursday afternoon, second and third places for Vergne and teammate Stoffel Vandoorne set the tone for the day.
The following day, after a session dedicated to setting up the electric cars, Vergne achieved the best time in his qualifying group, while it was a less happy qualifying for Vandoorne, getting stuck in traffic during his fastest lap, which led to him failing to qualify for the quarter-finals.
Vergne then turned in the perfect lap to beat Norman Nato (Avalanche Andretti) in the round of 16 and then Sergio Sette Camara (ERT) in the semifinals. “You've just won your ticket to the final,” Nicolas Mauduit, DS Penske's deputy team principal, told him over the radio.
A few seconds later, when Mitch Evans was the 73% favorite for pole, Jean-Eric Vergne proved unstoppable and, like a metronome, set another benchmark time. This is the 16th pole position for the French driver, who on this occasion becomes the pole position record holder, tied with Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing, Jaguar engine).
A lively but controlled race
Vergne made a perfect start and maintained the lead over Evans, still threatening in his Jaguar. The Frenchman was among the first to activate Attack Mode, with the aim of creating a small breathing space.
Photo by: Joao Filipe / DPPI
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske
In the meantime Jake Dennis had taken the lead and the battle between DS Penske and Jaguar continued behind the Andretti avalanche of the reigning world champion. Dennis, Mitch Evans and Vergne soon broke away from the group, with a rather marked difference in performance.
Strategically – in order not to use too much battery to resist the onslaught of his opponents – Vergne activated the second Attack mode and lost two positions. He remained in contact with the Jaguars and the Andrettis, but with different energy strategies.
Often trailing Dennis, Vergne was put under pressure by Evans, who used his second Attack Mode to maintain his position in the leading trio.
Vergne didn't give up, but with just a few laps to go the amount of energy he had left was questionable. Evans tried to take the position, but was a little too optimistic and went off the line following a braking error. Dennis, who did not defend aggressively, stuck to his race plan and maintained the lead.
After expending a lot of energy, Evans was overtaken by his teammate Nick Cassidy.
Up front, as lap 30 approached, Dennis and Vergne were still in the lead, separated by just over two seconds. Behind them, Jaguar's strategy was paying off and in the final laps the French driver had to call on all his experience to adequately defend his position. However, he managed to get the job done and cross the finish line behind Dennis.
“When you start from pole position, obviously, you want to win,” Vergne said.
Photo by: Germain Hazard / DPPI
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske
“But if you consider the progress of the race, which could have seen us finish much further back in the standings, you have to be satisfied. This second place is very important for us because it represents the progress we have made since last year and clearly indicates that now we are more capable of fighting with the Jaguars and Porsches.”
On Saturday the drivers will meet at the same time on the starting grid for a race that will have a shorter distance than yesterday, as it will go from 37 to 36 laps. However, riders will have the same amount of energy available to cover the distance on Friday, so strategy and race pace may be slightly different.
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