(AGENPARL) – PARIGI dom 04 giugno 2023 Sport news

Following an intense opening race of the weekend on Saturday, Sunday would provide the conclusion of the hot and humid double-header – with an extra two laps added onto the Sunday race length. Maserati MSG Team star Maximilian Günther was the man to beat for most of the weekend. Topping all free practice sessions, chalking up two pole positions and a podium in the opening race in south-east Asia – the German was eager to leave Indonesia with his first win of the season to top it all off.

It was to be a repeat front row with British driver Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti Formula E) once again starting on Günther’s inside with Mitch Evans in the JAGUAR TCS Racing car third.

Günther, clinical off the line led into the first turn, with Dennis getting a better start on the dustier inside line managed to hold station with a hard-charging Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) who made a demon start from the third row settled himself into fourth behind Evans.

Maserati star Günther was the first to activate Attack Mode – electing for an initial 2 minutes. Dennis knew he had to try something special to pass the German, and the Andretti driver managed to punch in quicker laps out front, so when he came to sweep into the deeper Attack Mode line, he was able to leapfrog Günther. Dennis controlled the pace, conserving energy and controlling the pack to the half way point. With 15 laps on the counter, Dennis triggers his second and final Attack Mode but gets shuffled behind a hard-charging Evans. Günther follows Dennis into Attack Mode a lap later but returns the leapfrogging favour to the British driver undercutting him into second.

Evans was having to stretch himself and the performance of the Jaguar, using up an extra few percentage on his battery life in the early stages of the race to try and get past Günther. This left the New Zealander vulnerable to the attack of the chasing two and on lap 20 he dropped to third as he went into the deeper Attack Mode section.

This allowed Günther into free air, out on his own, pushing the Maserati to fastest lap times, to pull an impressive gap over Dennis in second. As the laps counted down, nobody had an answer as the German raced to the chequered flag to seal his first victory of the season and the first Formula E win for Maserati – their first World Championship single-seater win since Juan Manuel Fangio in 1957.

Elsewhere, championship leader Nick Cassidy was enduring a torrid weekend. The Envision Racing pilot was holding ninth, but on lap 20 the New Zealander had a half speculative look at a overtake on title rival Pascal Wehrlein (Tag Heuer Porsche Formula E Team). The Kiwi made contact with his German sparring partner – knocking his own front wing in the process. A visit to the pits dropped him down the order and down the pecking order in the championship standings to third.

With the woes for Cassidy, Dennis was on a mission, as he sensed an opportunity to strengthen his championship bid. The British driver closed down Günther – securing the fastest lap and an extra point in the process on his way to back-to-back second places and his fourth podium in a row.

Mitch Evans who had used too much energy in the first half of the race was being left behind – with a hungry pack led by reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne behind – he had his work cut out to keep his elbows out and the train of cars behind him. Evans’ race craft and experience eventually brought the Jaguar home into third place following a DNF 24 hours before.

The Nissan Formula E Team were enjoying an upturn in form in Jakarta, as Sacha Fenestraz and Norman Nato worked together to move up the order. The pair pounced on Vandoorne on lap 32 to jostle past the reigning champion to record one of its best team results of the year with fourth and fifth respectively. Saturday’s race winner Wehrlein used his Attack Mode late in the race to finish sixth and bring solid points home for his championship challenge. Enough to see him leave Asia with just one point in hand over Dennis.

The next round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship takes place in Portland, USA. With only five rounds remaining – the fight for the title is set to reach fever pitch in America on the 24^th June.

Maximilian Günther, No. 7, Maserati MSG Racing, said:

“Very proud moment, I am over the moon with this victory – already yesterday was great with another podium. We have made such good progress over the past couple of races, it is fantastic, and to take my first win here in Jakarta is outstanding. I am just so happy. We felt really good from FP1 onwards, so the package is working here it was just about executing it and keep shooting in the right direction. We always took the right decisions this weekend. Yesterday we didn’t have enough, but today we did. It is just amazing. In Formula E you always need to keep your feet on the ground, like life in general! It can change so quickly, I am just really enjoying this moment here, I know there will be tracks that suit us more, there will be tracks that suit us less. We try to always maximise our package, that is what we have been doing the past few races. I am very proud.”

Jake Dennis, No. 27, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, said:

“I am happy, a lot happier than yesterday. Really good race to be honest, glad I could keep the P2 at the start. Honestly pretty well maximised, I think we didn’t quite get the second ATTACK MODE right, ultimately the Maserati was so fast over one lap today, and when he pushed he created the gap, which basically did the overcut on me and got track position again. It would have been difficult to keep him behind. I am happy, P2, 18 points – 19 with the fastest lap – hopefully we can keep building on this, keep scoring big points in Portland. It is going to be a big race for us, home race. I am looking forward to it. I just got told on the radio that Nick (Cassidy) DNF’d, which is obviously useful for us and obviously Pascal was P6. Really good points, important for the championship, but there are obviously so many races to go, five rounds left. All to play for but I am very much looking forward to it.”

Mitch Evans, No. 9, Jaguar TCS Racing, said:

“[I am] a bit speechless because it was a massive turnaround from yesterday, I wasn’t expecting this today at all. I struggled a lot during the race with my efficiency, and a bit of pace, and I feel like we were looking good half-way through but once Max and Jake put their foot down I just couldn’t keep up. It was a bit of a road block, but I hung on and really needed these points after yesterday. The confetti on the podium will taste good. In the range I was in I was doing a lot of coasting, and it just left me very exposed to Stoffel and the guys behind. The pace was slow and so I felt like I was up against the corner but luckily I was able to hang on and towards the end it got a little bit easier. I was able to under-consume and hit the targets up a bit. Hung on and I guess that’s the main thing.”

ABB FIA Formula E World Championship

Formula ESEASON 2022-2023SportCircuit1SportABB FIA Formula E World ChampionshipCircuitSEASON 2022-2023Formula E00Sunday, June 4, 2023 – 1:00pmSunday, June 4, 2023 – 1:00pm

Fonte/Source: https://www.fia.com/news/formula-e-maserati-make-history-first-abb-fia-formula-e-world-championship-victory-gunther-wins