Dennis converts pole into maiden Formula E victory in Valencia E-Prix

BMW’s Jake Dennis resisted race-long pressure to convert pole into his first Formula E victory in Valencia.
Dennis converts pole into maiden Formula E victory in Valencia E-Prix

BMW’s Jake Dennis resisted race-long pressure to convert pole position into his first Formula E victory in Valencia.

Dennis stormed to his maiden pole position, beating Andre Lotterer by 0.8s as track conditions went from damp to dry in qualifying.

The British driver managed the race from the front, ensuring there wasn’t a repeat of yesterday’s drama where the majority of the field ran out of energy.

There had been concerns going into the E-Prix that the race leader would be at a severe disadvantage due to the advantage the cars behind would have in terms of energy saving, benefiting from the slipstream effect.

Dennis dampened such concerns to secure an impressive maiden victory in the series.

The BMW driver kept Mahindra’s Alex Lynn at bay for the first half of the E-Prix, before checking out at the front when Lynn dropped back after an incident with Norman Nato. 

Nato was handed a five-second time penalty for the aforementioned incident, dropping him from second to fifth place.

Lotterer picked up second and his first points of the season, while Lynn recovered to finish third having been as low as ninth after his incident with Nato.

Nato’s penalty also promoted Oliver Rowland into fourth as the lead Nissan e.Dams driver.

Rene Rast was one of the afternoon’s star performers, recovering from 14th on the grid to finish an impressive sixth.

Rast moved up to second but picked up some debris in the closing laps which appeared to impact the handling of his car.

Jean-Eric Vergne struggled to make much progress as he finished in seventh, beating Oliver Turkey in eighth place. 

Edoardo Mortara and Lucas di Grassi rounded out the points-paying positions - making it a double points score for both Venturi and Audi.

It was a disappointing day for Mercedes and Jaguar - with the two teams at the top of both championships.

Sam Bird and Mitch Evans could only recover to P14 and P15, while Nyck de Vries in the lead Mercedes was 16th.

Stoffel Vandoorne looked set to score a handful of points but an incident with Sebastien Buemi forced the Belgian into early retirement with front wing damage.

In terms of the drivers' championship, de Vries remains on top, nine points clear of teammate Vandoorne.

Bird and Robin Frijns sit third and fourth on 43 points each.

Mercedes remains first in the teams' championship, 23 points ahead of Jaguar. 

Click here to find the full results for the Valencia E-Prix (Race 2).

 

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