Nick Cassidy won a sedate Formula E season finale in London after two aborted attempts to start the race, as his Envision Racing team sealed the teams’ title a day after Cassidy’s own championship aspirations were ended by an intra-team clash.
The race only got going in earnest an hour and a half after the original start time due to poor visibility, with efforts to start the race behind the safety car twice resulting in red flags.
Race Director Scot Elkins has ordered another lap behind the Safety Car.@Hankook_Sport #LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/BpC5yY6skh
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) July 30, 2023
But any fears of chaos proved unfounded as Cassidy controlled proceedings at the front – with only two changes of position in the top 10 finishing order compared to the starting grid.
Heavy rain in London meant the second race of the weekend at the ExCeL track, which has both indoor and outdoor sections, started behind the safety car – with four laps completed before the first red flag was shown.
Two more laps were completed before attempts to get the race going were aborted for a second time, but the race did finally get going on lap eight, with polesitter Cassidy and fellow front-row qualifier Mitch Evans quickly breaking away.
That trend only continued as the race went on, as Cassidy – who honed his skills in Japan’s Super Formula series, clinching the single-seater category’s title in 2019 – dragged Evans along with him as they advanced more than 10 seconds clear of the pack behind.
Saturday race winner Evans kept Cassidy honest, bringing the gap between the two back below two seconds in the closing stages, but Cassidy was never troubled as he clinched his fourth victory of a highly impressive season, despite his drivers’ title aspirations falling short.
The win did at least secure Cassidy runner-up spot at the expense of Evans, and coupled with Sebastien Buemi’s sixth-place finish meant Envision beat its manufacturer partner Jaguar – which Cassidy will join next season – to the teams’ title by 12 points.
New champion Jake Dennis, who sealed the title with a race to spare after a runner-up finish in Saturday’s race, had a lonely but comfortable run to third in his Andretti-Porsche.
Dennis, who finished 11.361s behind Evans, shook off Norman Nato – taking his first attack mode and drifting away from the two leaders while extending a margin back to Nato, pushing on only in the final stages as he clinched the bonus point for fastest lap.
Nato rounded out a strong end to the season with the Nissan team he is set to leave this summer by finishing fourth, a result that jumped Nissan ahead of its customer McLaren into seventh in the teams’ standings by seven points.
Outgoing champion Stoffel Vandoorne was fifth, with Buemi taking sixth from the second factory Jaguar of Sam Bird in the final third of the 38-lap race – one of only three changes of place in the points-paying positions after lap 10.
Ticktum! The Brit takes advantage of a slip from Mortara and moves into P9!@Hankook_Sport #LondonEPrix pic.twitter.com/5vtPgNYDmt
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) July 30, 2023
The others were executed by Dan Ticktum, who pounced opportunistically as Edoardo Mortara’s Maserati squirmed as he got onto the power, and slotted his NIO 333 car up the inside into the tight Turn 9 right-hander. He then gained another place later on lap 14 when Pascal Wehrlein took attack mode.
Ticktum finished ninth, behind Bird and Abt Cupra driver Nico Mueller, a crucial result for NIO as it moved it up to ninth in the teams’ standings by a point at the expense of Mahindra.
Wehrlein completed the points for the factory Porsche squad, which finished fourth in the standings – 10 points behind its customer Andretti.
Race Results
Pos | Name | Team | Car | Laps | Laps Led | Total Time | Fastest Lap | Pitstops | Pts |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Nick Cassidy | Envision Racing | Jaguar I-TYPE 6 | 38 | 38 | 2h13m56.532s | 1m21.797s | 0 | 28 |
2 | Mitch Evans | Jaguar TCS Racing | Jaguar I-TYPE 6 | 38 | 0 | +4.934s | 1m22.17s | 0 | 18 |
3 | Jake Dennis | Avalanche Andretti | Porsche 99X Electric | 38 | 0 | +16.295s | 1m21.554s | 0 | 16 |
4 | Norman Nato | Nissan | Nissan e-4ORCE 04 | 38 | 0 | +24.819s | 1m22.293s | 0 | 12 |
5 | Stoffel Vandoorne | DS Penske | DS E-Tense FE23 | 38 | 0 | +26.29s | 1m22.052s | 0 | 10 |
6 | Sébastien Buemi | Envision Racing | Jaguar I-TYPE 6 | 38 | 0 | +27.406s | 1m21.991s | 0 | 8 |
7 | Sam Bird | Jaguar TCS Racing | Jaguar I-TYPE 6 | 38 | 0 | +29.376s | 1m22.012s | 0 | 6 |
8 | Nico Müller | ABT CUPRA | Mahindra M9Electro | 38 | 0 | +30.304s | 1m22.059s | 0 | 4 |
9 | Daniel Ticktum | NIO 333 Racing | NIO 333 ER9 | 38 | 0 | +30.832s | 1m21.881s | 0 | 2 |
10 | Pascal Wehrlein | TAG Heuer Porsche | Porsche 99X Electric | 38 | 0 | +35.558s | 1m22.492s | 0 | 1 |
11 | Edoardo Mortara | Maserati MSG Racing | Maserati Tipo Folgore | 38 | 0 | +36.615s | 1m22.464s | 0 | 0 |
12 | René Rast | NEOM McLaren | Nissan e-4ORCE 04 | 38 | 0 | +38.16s | 1m21.995s | 0 | 0 |
13 | Sérgio Sette Câmara | NIO 333 Racing | NIO 333 ER9 | 38 | 0 | +40.295s | 1m22.1s | 0 | 0 |
14 | Maximilian Günther | Maserati MSG Racing | Maserati Tipo Folgore | 38 | 0 | +51.14s | 1m22.511s | 0 | 0 |
15 | Sacha Fenestraz | Nissan | Nissan e-4ORCE 04 | 38 | 0 | +51.918s | 1m22.555s | 0 | 0 |
16 | António Félix da Costa | TAG Heuer Porsche | Porsche 99X Electric | 38 | 0 | +53.336s | 1m22.502s | 0 | 0 |
17 | Robin Frijns | ABT CUPRA | Mahindra M9Electro | 38 | 0 | +56.608s | 1m22.42s | 0 | 0 |
18 | Lucas Di Grassi | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M9Electro | 38 | 0 | +58.064s | 1m22.507s | 0 | 0 |
19 | Jake Hughes | NEOM McLaren | Nissan e-4ORCE 04 | 38 | 0 | +59.956s | 1m22.261s | 0 | 0 |
20 | Roberto Merhi | Mahindra Racing | Mahindra M9Electro | 38 | 0 | +1m02.506s | 1m22.558s | 0 | 0 |
21 | André Lotterer | Avalanche Andretti | Porsche 99X Electric | 38 | 0 | +1m02.89s | 1m22.254s | 0 | 0 |
22 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Penske | DS E-Tense FE23 | 37 | 0 | +1 lap | 1m22.492s | 0 | 0 |