On the outskirts of ExCeL London, home to the 16th and final round of the 2024 Formula E World Championship, the weather was a little cooler than the day before. But that didn’t change the main themes of the race day.
With the grand finale between Porsche and Jaguar in the background, DS Penske’s goal is to consolidate third place in the team standings, ahead of Nissan and Andretti. To achieve this, the team has been able to count on the determination of Jean-Éric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, two of the most experienced in the category with three titles under their belt (JEV is the only driver to have won the championship twice).
But the planets also have to align on this tight, high-risk circuit, where any contact can end a driver’s hopes. During the only free practice session, the pressure was on. The teams continued to work on the set-up of their cars, because Sunday’s session was different from the previous day’s.
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23
Photo by: DPPI
In addition, the final round of the 2024 season was shortened by three laps compared to Saturday’s race: 34 instead of 37. This changes the energy approach and calculations for the race engineers. With the same amount of energy at the start as the day before, and certainly with a faster pace, there are fewer opportunities for overtaking. During this 30-minute session, Jean-Éric Vergne once again showed good form as on Saturday, taking his DS E-TENSE FE23 to third place, just two hundredths of a second behind Oliver Rowland’s Nissan, while Stoffel Vandoorne confirmed his position in the top 10,
There were less than two hours to go until the qualifying heats began and the three pole position points were awarded, particularly important on this Sunday lunchtime on the banks of the Thames.
The pressure is rising
Like the previous day, the two DS Penske drivers ended up in Group B. In this 12-minute qualifying phase, the top four finishers advance to the quarterfinals. By the mid-session, Stoffel Vandoorne was firmly in the lead, with JEV not far behind. When the clock stopped, the objective was achieved: at the end of the two groups, only DS Penske and Jaguar had qualified their two cars, advancing to the head-to-head phase.
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23
Photo by: DPPI
Occupying sixth and seventh positions on the starting grid, the DS drivers, with Vergne leading, expected a very eventful race. And they were right: as on the previous day, there were many interruptions to remove the crashed cars. But the solidity and experience of the French driver and his Belgian teammate allowed both to finish in the points once again, in sixth and ninth position respectively.
The result puts DS Penske third in the team standings, behind Jaguar and Porsche, but still ahead of Nissan and Porsche customer team Andretti. In the drivers’ standings, Jean-Éric Vergne is sixth, just seven points behind Antonio Felix Da Costa (Porsche). The top six comprises the two Porsches, the two Jaguars, the Nissan of Oliver Rowland and JEV, the latter having once again enjoyed a strong season with the championship’s only French manufacturer.
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