Wehrlein wins second Misano E-Prix for Porsche after last-lap drama for Rowland

Pascal Wehrlein became the first repeat winner of the Formula E season in the second race of the Misano E-Prix, taking victory in surprising fashion as Oliver Rowland slowed on the final lap.

After being handed the win following a penalty for Wehrlein’s TAG Heuer Porsche teammate Antonio Felix da Costa on Saturday, Nissan’s Rowland looked set to comfortably win on-track on Sunday.

As with Saturday, energy saving saw multiple position changes in the first half of the race, but the second race was two laps shorter than Saturday at 26 laps and featured a one-lap safety car period after Robin Frijns ended up in the Turn 7 gravel, meaning the overall pace was higher and drivers did enough saving at an earlier point.

That looked to have allowed Rowland to drop the hammer -- despite being marginally down on energy compared to the cars he was battling -- after taking the lead off Wehrlein with five laps to go, and he subsequently went into the final lap with a 1.5s advantage over the German, who himself had also broken away from the chasing pack.

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Rowland appeared to have the win secured when, seemingly out of nowhere, he ran out of usable energy a few corners from the finish line, as the deficit from a few laps earlier proving to be more costly than it seemed. Before that, it had looked as if the story of lap 26 would be the fight for third, with Wehrlein’s second -- then first -- something of a certainty.

Energy saving – or the lack of it – again proved decisive at Misano. Simon Galloway/Motorsport Images)

Jake Dennis -- who'd once again climbed up the order after qualifying deep in the pack -- was holding onto third with Nico Mueller and Nick Cassidy behind him. Dennis resolutely kept the other two behind him to keep what would become second after Rowland's downfall, while Cassidy made a late lunge on Mueller going into the final corner on the final lap and, while it initially looked like Mueller would also hold position, Cassidy got by on the line, finishing just 0.05s ahead.

Jake Hughes finished fifth on the road but was relegated to eighth post-race after he was handed a five-second penalty for gaining an advantage by going off-track at Turns 8 and 9. That elevated Sergio Sette Camara to fifth for ERT’s second consecutive top-five finish, and Jean-Eric Vergne to eighth.

Maserati MSG duo Maximilian Guenther and Jehan Daruvala completed the top 10, ahead of Sam Bird who had a difficult race after being involved in the incident that resulted in Frijns retiring from the race, then went off at Turn 12 on lap 16, before spinning on his own four laps later.

Rowland was eventually classified 19th, behind Antonio Felix da Costa and Mitch Evans. da Costa's race came undone on lap 11 after he ran into the back of Bird as the field concertinaed into Turn 1, resulting in front wing damage that required a pit stop, while Evans dropped out of contention after briefly coming to a halt at Turn 9 on lap 17.

That was the same lap where Sebastien Buemi joined his Envision Racing teammate Frijns in retiring, after he sustained broken steering and front wing damage after contact. Frijns sustained similar damage after being squeezed by da Costa and Bird on the seventh lap which resulted in the aforementioned safety car.

As well as the win, Wehrlein secured a bonus point for fastest lap, and leaves Italy with the championship lead, equal on 89 points with Dennis but with two wins to the Andretti driver’s one. Rowland lost the championship lead on Sunday but despite his non-score, he’s just nine points off the lead in third.

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