Formula E world champion Jake Dennis took his first win of the new season in the first of two races this weekend in Diriyah.
The Andretti driver skilfully moved up from third in the early laps ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Mitch Evans through clever use of Attack Mode to win by a large margin.
Vergne held onto second place ahead of Nick Cassidy after a late lunge from Mitch Evans saw the Jaguar driver drop from third down to fifth place.
At the start, pole-winner Vergne held onto the lead while Mitch Evans held off a challenge from Sergio Sette Camara into the first corner to keep second place, before Dennis muscled by the ERT driver to take third.
Leader Vergne was the first to take Attack Mode on the third lap. Evans inherited the lead but moved to take Attack Mode for the first time on the next lap. The Jaguar driver ended up right next to the Penske on the corner exit, with Vergne squeezing Evans to the wall.
Dennis waited an extra lap before he took his first Attack Mode, slotting between Vergne and Evans. But Vergne then took six minutes of Attack Mode on the next lap, dropping behind Evans in third. While Vergne struggled to pass Evans on track with his extra power, Dennis pushed hard and was able to take his remaining Attack Mode time on the next lap, but crucially remained ahead of his two rivals behind.
Evans handed Vergne second place when he took his remaining Attack Mode, leaving Dennis leading from Vergne and the Jaguar with Evans in third, with all three using up their remaining Attack Mode in unison as the trio pulled away from the pack behind.
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Evans managed to pass Vergne for second at the end of the back straight on lap 13 and challenged Dennis for the lead at the same spot on the next lap. However, Evans ran wide on the exit of the corner, allowing Dennis to reclaim the lead. Vergne then began to put the Jaguar driver under pressure, which paid off on the 16th lap when Evans ran wide at turn 18, allowing Vergne through into second.
Dennis held a lead of over a second from Vergne who quickly opened up a gap to Evans behind. Eventually Evans was caught by Jaguar team mate Nick Cassidy and Evans allowed him through into third with just over ten laps remaining as Cassidy still had Attack Mode to use up. Cassidy eventually took his second Attack Mode and slotted in behind his team mate and ahead of Sam Bird’s McLaren.
Out front, Dennis was in complete control. But Vergne’s advantage over Evans…
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