Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
Cassidy wins second Diriyah E-Prix for Jaguar
Nick Cassidy won the second part of the Diriyah E-Prix, holding off early leader Robin Frijns and polesitter Oliver Rowland.
Cassidy and Frijns swamped Rowland off the start, with the Envision driver sneaking up the inside. Cassidy, however, had to bide his time as Rowland held firm.
Timing of the Attack Mode power boost early on would prove to be crucial in deciding the race outcome, with Rowland blinking first on lap 4. Frijns went a lap later, having pushed in the intervening time to ensure he maintained position. But Cassidy was left out in front after his two rivals for the win went through the activation zone.
Cassidy had track position and set about building a gap, he went for the Attack Mode on lap 7, going for his second activation soon after while he could still capitalize on his advantage out in front.
For the remainder of the race, Frijns and Rowland remained on Cassidy’s tail, but could not find a way past.
Cassidy’s win, his first for Jaguar TCS Racing, was by just 1.192s in the end, a stark contrast to Friday’s race which was won by Andretti driver Jake Dennis by over 13 seconds.
The top four were covered by less than three seconds by the race’s end, with NEOM McLaren driver Jake Hughes ended the race shadowing the lead trio, having gained two spots from his starting position.
DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top five, ahead of Sacha Fenestraz and Pascal Wehrlein. Jean-Eric Vergne, Maximilian Guenther, and Friday winner Dennis completed the top 10, with Mitch Evans in 11th having followed Dennis through past Sergio Sette Camara at the end of lap 14. Sette Camara -- who had made contact with Wehrlein earlier in the race -- eventually wound up 17th, second-to-last of the finishers, having started in the top 10, the ERT still struggling with efficiency over a race distance.
His teammate Dan Ticktum was one of three retirements in the race, with Maserati MSG’s Jehan Daruvala and McLaren’s Sam Bird joining him on the sidelines.
Daruvala's race ended on lap 27 after an apparent regen failure at Turn 18 which brought out a full-course yellow. Bird, meanwhile, made contact with a wall moments after a failed overtake attempt on Fenestraz through Turns 18 and 19.
Formula E now enters a seven-week break following the cancellation of the Hyderabad E-Prix, with the next round taking place in Sao Paulo on March 16.
Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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