Formula E

Last-lap heartbreak decides Formula E's second Misano race

by Josh Suttill
3 min read

Oliver Rowland lost victory in Formula E's second Misano E-Prix on the very last lap as his Nissan-run machine ground to a halt, leaving Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein to become 2024's first repeat winner.

Rowland looked on for a dominant victory that would have allowed him to complete a clean sweep of wins this weekend until drama struck on the very last lap, when he ground to a halt with an apparent lack of energy.

Rowland's engineer told him "sorry about that, we don't know what happened... everything on our side on the numbers was fine".

Rowland later replied "'f***ing hell... but surely it tells you my f***ing energy remaining?".

That cleared the way for Wehrlein to claim victory in race two, giving Porsche back the race win that team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified from in race one. 

Wehrlein also bounces back from point-less race one of his own, where he picked up front wing damage while fighting at the front.

The victory ensures Wehrlein vaults into the drivers' championship lead, one Rowland would have well extended without the last-lap drama. Instead Rowland drops from first to third in the standings.

Jake Dennis clung onto second in the race and retains that position in the standings, while Jaguar's Nick Cassidy pipped Nico Mueller to the final spot on the podium at the line.

Fourth place is still Mueller's best finish in Formula E in three years and comes in the same week The Race revealed he's a candidate for a Porsche seat next year. 

McLaren's poleman Jake Hughes fell to fifth at the flag and that became eighth later when he was given a five-second penalty for going off the track and gaining an advantage.

That promoted Rowland's team-mate Sacha Fenestraz to a season's best fifth ahead of Sergio Sette Camara [ERT], Jean-Eric Vergne [DS Penske] and Hughes.

Maximilian Guenther was ninth ahead of rookie Maserati team-mate Jehan Daruvala, who scored his first point in Formula E. But that became two points when a post-race penalty demoted Guenther, giving Daruvala ninth and promoting Sam Bird into the points.

Abt Cupra's Lucas di Grassi missed out on getting a second consecutive points finish, having been given a five-second time penalty for causing a collision. 

After qualifying last and losing his race one victory to a controversial disqualification, da Costa was initially making a solid comeback. 

He'd vaulted from 22nd to 12th within five laps and was in the top 10 soon after, only to then have his race ruined by picking up front wing damage that necessitated a pitstop.

That pitstop dropped da Costa right in front of the leading pack and teased the possibility of some intra-team Porsche tactics - until da Costa jumped in the pits and moved out of the way.

"I just don’t want to get involved... they’re coming fast... I've got to move, they're here," da Costa told his engineer. 

Norman Nato lost his front wing via the back of Vergne's car at half distance and with it a potential points finish.  Race one polesitter Mitch Evans stopped his Jaguar on track and while he got it going again after a technical issue, he finished a distant 18th. 

Jaguar customer Envision's tricky 2024 continued with a double DNF. Robin Frijns caused a brief safety car when he went off at Turn 7, after Bird flung his McLaren down the inside of Frijns, while da Costa was on Frijns's left, inevitably resulting in contact and damage to Frijns' car in particular.

Team-mate Sebastien Buemi also picked up damage, in an unseen incident, and was then parked up alongside Frijns in the Envision garage. 

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