Race report
Formula E Jakarta ePrix II
Jakarta E-Prix: Gunther wins for Maserati, Wehrlein takes points lead
Maximilian Gunther claimed a first Formula E victory for Maserati MSG in the Jakarta E-Prix, as an ill-fated overtaking attempt from Nick Cassidy handed the points lead to Pascal Wehrlein.
Rachit Thukral
Edited: Jun 5, 2023, 3:08 AM
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Gunther had also started Saturday's opening race in Indonesia from pole position, but the German driver showed far superior long-run pace in the second leg of the double-header, outduelling Andretti's Jake Dennis to score his first FE win in three years.
At the start of the race, Gunther held the lead from pole position into Turn 1, with Dennis also staying in second position despite Jaguar's Mitch Evans making a rapid getaway from third on the grid.
Gunther was the first of the frontrunners to activate the Attack Mode on lap 4, dropping to third behind Dennis and Evans after rejoining the track.
Dennis followed Gunther on the following lap and emerged in front of the German driver, taking the net lead of the race.
On lap 15, it was Dennis who was the first to take the wider line at Turn 16 to activate the Attack Mode, slipping momentarily behind both Gunther and Evans.
With Dennis getting stuck behind the slower Jaguar of Evans, Gunther immediately upped his pace, setting personal best times in sectors 1 and 2.
This meant that when he himself took the Attack Mode for the second time on the following lap, he was able to emerge ahead of Dennis and put himself back at the front of the pack.
However, the battle for the lead was far from settled, with Dennis immediately putting the pressure on Gunther, as Evans remained first on the road and still with a chance of stealing the victory.
On lap 19, Dennis tried to go around the outside of Gunther into Turn 1, a departure from the usual tactic of diving towards the inside into the right-hander.
The British driver managed to get his Andretti car ahead of Gunther's Maserati but then had a twitchy moment at the exit of the corner, allowing the latter to come back and stay in the net lead of the race.
That would be as close Dennis would come to passing Gunther, with the German driver pulling out a two-second gap over the next seven laps.
He eventually took the chequered flag by 2.822s, scoring his first win since New York in 2021 with BMW as well as the first-ever for Maserati in FE.
Dennis missed out on a second win of the season but extended his streak of podiums to fourth, with Evans completing the podium spots in third, albeit 18.5s behind Gunther after completely losing touch with the leading duo.
The two Nissans charged through the field in the closing stages of the race, with Sacha Fenestraz finishing fourth and team-mate Norman Nato ending up not far behind in fifth.
Their late race surge included an impressive move from Fenestraz on Stoffel Vandoorne into Turn 1, which left the DS Penske driver wide and also allowed Nato to come through.
Nato then began challenging Fenestraz for position, before eventually settling for fifth.
Another driver to pass Vandoorne late on was Wehrlein, with the move allowing the Porsche driver to claim the lead of the championship by just one point over Dennis.
It followed overnight points leader Cassidy attempting an ambitious move over Wehrlein into Turn 16 that dropped him to the back of the pack.
Coming from a long way into the left-hander, Cassidy's front wing was clipped by Wehrlein's Porsche as they turned into the corner, leaving him stranded on track.
Although he was able to get going again, he could only recover to 18th at the finish, failing to score points for only the second time this season.
Seventh place in the race went to Wehrlein's team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa, with Edoardo Mortara finishing eighth for Maserati after losing several places in one go with a lock-up at Turn 1.
Vandoorne eventually finished a disappointing ninth, while Sebastien Buemi picked up the final championship point in 10th for Envision with a bold move over McLaren's Rene Rast.
Race results:
Cla # Driver Team Gap 1 7 Maximilian Gunther
Maserati Racing 2 27
Jake Dennis
Andretti Autosport 2.822 3 9
Mitch Evans
Jaguar Racing 18.498 4 23
Sacha Fenestraz
Nissan e.dams 19.307 5 17
Norman Nato
Nissan e.dams 19.924 6 94
Pascal Wehrlein
Porsche Team 20.108 7 13
Antonio Felix da Costa
Porsche Team 20.521 8 48
Edoardo Mortara
Maserati Racing 20.996 9 1
Stoffel Vandoorne
DS Penske 26.630 10 16
Sébastien Buemi
Envision Racing 27.273 11 33
Dan Ticktum
NIO Formula E Team 28.614 12 51
Nico Müller
Team Abt 28.787 13 4
Robin Frijns
Team Abt 29.125 14 11
Lucas di Grassi
Mahindra Racing 29.530 15 58
René Rast
McLaren 30.670 16 25
Jean-Eric Vergne
DS Penske 56.598 17 8
Roberto Merhi
Mahindra Racing 1'06.645 18 37
Nick Cassidy
Envision Racing 1'06.879 5
Jake Hughes
McLaren 2 Laps 36
David Beckmann
Andretti Autosport 33 Laps 10
Sam Bird
Jaguar Racing 3
Sergio Sette Camara
NIO Formula E Team View full results
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