Nick Cassidy has recovered from Sunday’s untimely DNF to take victory over compatriot Mitch Evans in the Formula E season-ending London E-Prix. The Kiwi one-two is the third of the season, and victory and pole position moved Cassidy back to second in the championship standings.
While Jake Dennis had claimed the driver’s championship in Sunday’s race after Cassidy failed to finish, there was still plenty to play for, as only two points separated Evans’s Jaguar TCS Racing and Cassidy’s Envision Racing in the teams championship standings.
For the second time in two days, the Kiwis would meet in the finals of the duels, with Cassidy taking a tight 0.01 advantage over his rival to qualify on pole and claim 3 points, putting them ahead in the team’s standings.
While portions of the race were held indoors, heavy rainfall over the outside sections resulted in the race beginning behind the Safety Car for multiple laps. Conditions failed to improve, resulting in a red flag.
A 30-minute delay would follow to allow for the track to be dried before teams returned to the track behind the Safety Car again. Two further laps under caution followed, but conditions were deemed to still be too dangerous, resulting in a second delay.
Racing finally began after another lengthy delay, with a rolling start on Lap 8 beginning proceedings. Both Kiwis immediately pulled clear of the chasing pack, while Dennis moved into third on Lap 2 by passing Norman Nato.
Cassidy and Evans used their attack modes early and continued to pull away, with the Envision driver having built a 2-second lead over the Jaguar, while Dennis was a further 10 seconds down the road after just ten laps of green flag running.
Four laps were added to the race distance to counter the earlier Safety Car periods, but it was no issue for Cassidy, who cruised to a commanding lights-to-flag victory by nearly 5 seconds over Evans. Dennis rounded out the podium, having run a lonely race once he moved to third.
A podium in the finale was the icing on the cake for Dennis, who claimed the driver’s title by 30 points over Cassidy. Evans finished a further 2 points behind in third.
Envision’s Sebastien Buemi finished sixth, one spot ahead of Jaguar’s Sam Bird, delivering a 12-point buffer to his team to claim the title.
Header Image: Envision Racing