Jake Dennis took a dominant first win of the year at Round 2 in Diriyah from third on the grid. Pole-sitter Jean-Eric Vergne held on in the late stages of the race to finish second, while Nick Cassidy secured the final step on the podium after a mistake from his teammate on the final lap.
The following day, Nick Cassidy took his first win in Jaguar colours with a commanding performance at the second Diryah race.
Robin Frijns and Oliver Rowland took second and third respectively, with both drivers taking their first podium since their returns to their former teams.
The Story of Race 1
Vergne covered the Jaguar of Mitch Evans off the line and was first to take Attack Mode early on, holding the lead when Evans took his. Dennis took Attack Mode 2 laps later and jumped Evans, putting him in second.
Evans would finally take second from Vergne on lap 12 with a dive down the inside of turn 18. He tried the same on Dennis 2 laps later, but went wide and lost the lead. Vergne retook second on lap 17 after Evans went deep defending.
Meanwhile, Cassidy and Sam Bird were working their way to the front from seventh and ninth on the grid. The pair put Vergne and Evans under pressure in the closing stages of the race which would come to a climax on the final lap.
Evans went for the move on Vergne with an aggressive dive down the inside at turn 18 on the final lap, but slid wide into the runoff area. This promoted his teammate Cassidy to third and Bird to fourth, with Evans managing to hold off Norman Nato for fifth. There was no catching Dennis though, who coasted to victory by an impressive 13 seconds.
The Story of Race 2
From second on the grid, Frijns jumped polesitter Rowland to take the lead in the early stages. Rowland blinked first to activate his Attack Mode and was covered off by Frijns, leaving Cassidy out in front with clear air.
The Kiwi took advantage of this to emerge in front after taking his first Attack Mode, and it would remain this way after everyone had activated Attack mode for the second time.
There were battles up and down the field as drivers battled through the train of cars behind Cassidy. From 10th on the grid, Pascal Wehrlein made some committed moves on Sergio Sette Camara and Jean-Eric Vergne to move himself up to seventh by the finish, while Edoardo Mortara gained seven positions but was unrewarded with 11th place.
Despite the train of cars following him, Cassidy controlled the race up until the end to take his first victory with the Jaguar team. The result puts him in the lead of the drivers championship by 19 points from Pascal Wehrlein, with Vergne a further 5 points behind.
With three different winners in the first three races, this Formula E season is as unpredictable as ever.
Comments