Formula E

Mortara fights off Techeetahs to win and take Formula E lead

by Matt Beer
3 min read

Venturi Mercedes driver Edoardo Mortara reclaimed the Formula E championship lead by overcoming DS Techeetah’s best team-tactic efforts and taking a third win of 2022 in Marrakesh.

Mortara had emerged in front from a frantic first quarter of the race in which the majority of the field hammered through both their attack mode deployments extremely early, prompting fraught racing between those that did and didn’t have the extra power at any moment.

Polesitter Antonio Felix da Costa was pursuing him, but had already declared pre-race that he’d be working to help his title-chasing DS Techeetah team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Once Vergne had got back ahead of fellow championship contender Mitch Evans of Jaguar for third, the DS Techeetahs swapped positions with just under 10 minutes to go.

Da Costa expressed frustration at the choice of Turn 7 for a switchover place, and Mortara put on a burst of speed as the switch happened behind him, pulling out a bit of a cushion.

Vergne couldn’t make much progress after the Venturi, and da Costa sat in his slipstream asking over team radio for another chance to go after Mortara.

He was given that opportunity four minutes from the end, but though he gained on the leader he couldn’t do anything to deny Mortara the win.

Vergne then began suffering from battery temperature worries and lost third to Evans on the final lap.

Mortara’s team-mate Lucas di Grassi also pulled off a last-lap move to take fifth from reigning champion Nyck de Vries in the best of the works Mercedes.

His team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne drove a great race to come from 20th after brake problems in qualifying to take eighth, behind Jake Dennis of Avalanche Andretti.

Sam Bird’s Jaguar was ninth, with Oliver Rowland falling back to 10th for Mahindra following an aggressive early charge into podium contention that left other drivers wondering over team radio if Rowland had any hope of making it to the finish on his energy.

Porsche appeared to badly miscalculate its energy strategy. Pascal Wehrlein’s race pace was extremely slow from fourth on the grid and he was a road block early on.

Shoved down the order amid some wild racing, he fell right back to 18th but had 3% more energy than most of the field in the closing stages.

It was of relatively little use as he could only come back through to 12th.

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Edoardo Mortara ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 28 46m45.41s 1m21.787s 0 25
2 António Félix da Costa DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 34 6 +2.297s 1m21.449s 0 21
3 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 34 0 +6.27s 1m21.135s 0 15
4 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Techeetah DS E-Tense FE21 34 0 +6.965s 1m21.517s 0 12
5 Lucas Di Grassi ROKiT Venturi Racing Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 0 +7.787s 1m20.909s 0 11
6 Nyck de Vries Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 0 +8.394s 1m21.273s 0 8
7 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 34 0 +12.084s 1m21.71s 0 6
8 Stoffel Vandoorne Mercedes-Benz EQ Mercedes-EQ Silver Arrow 02 34 0 +14.541s 1m21.502s 0 4
9 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-Type 5 34 0 +15.048s 1m21.261s 0 2
10 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 34 0 +15.27s 1m21.193s 0 1
11 Oliver Askew Avalanche Andretti BMW i FE.21 34 0 +16.336s 1m21.363s 0 0
12 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 34 0 +30.043s 1m22.094s 0 0
13 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 34 0 +31.97s 1m22.11s 0 0
14 Alexander Sims Mahindra Racing Mahindra M8Electro 34 0 +32.332s 1m21.468s 0 0
15 André Lotterer TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 34 0 +32.364s 1m21.47s 0 0
16 Sébastien Buemi Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 34 0 +33.707s 1m22.172s 0 0
17 Oliver Turvey NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 34 0 +35.018s 1m22.359s 0 0
18 Robin Frijns Envision Racing Audi e-tron FE07 34 0 +35.686s 1m21.805s 0 0
19 Antonio Giovinazzi Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 34 0 +40.887s 1m22.627s 0 0
20 Sérgio Sette Câmara Dragon / Penske Autosport Penske EV-5 34 0 +42.764s 1m22.362s 0 0
Maximilian Günther Nissan e.Dams Nissan IM03 32 0 DNF 1m22.052s 0 0
Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 001 28 0 DNF 1m21.705s 0 0
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks