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Dennis clinches maiden victory in lights-to-flag fashion

Rookie Jake Dennis claimed his first win in Formula E, dominating the second Valencia race from lights to flag.

As red lights went out, poleman Dennis had a clean start that allowed him to gain some advantage from the rest of the pack.

Alex Lynn stuck with Dennis in the early stages of the race, battling the BMW driver for position. Dennis was eventually able to break free and Lynn was left to battle with a strong starting Norman Nato.

Nato pushed hard before making contact with Lynn and sending the Mahindra driver plummeting down the order. The Venturi racer was handed a five second penalty for the incident, but remaining running P2, now with Rene Rast and Andre Lotterer for company.

Lotterer managed to get past Rast and, despite knowing Nato had a time penalty, continued to push to find a way past the Venturi driver. Nato’s defending allowed Dennis to extend his gap at the front of the order.

Dennis managed the penultimate lap of the race to cross the start finish line just seconds after the clock hit zero, avoiding the final lap energy management chaos of Saturday’s race.

On the last lap, leader Dennis was told on the radio to go flat out. He clinched his maiden victory on the series in lights to flag fashion. Lotterer was unable to get past Nato on track, but was promoted to second due to the penalty.

Despite dropping to the back of the top 10, Lynn was able to climb back up through the order to finish P3.

Oliver Rowland, who had battled at the sharp end of the field early in the race, was the only other driver within five seconds of Nato at the chequered flag, and was promoted to fourth ahead of the Frenchman.

Rast picked up sixth, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne and Oliver Turvey, who enjoyed a strong start to the race but was shuffled backwards later on.

The championship front runners started the race from the back of the grid and struggled to make progress throughout the 30 lap encounter. Championship leader Nyck de Vries could only manage 16th while team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne was forced to retire.

Vandoorne had tried to pass Sebastien Buemi on the inside but ended up hitting the wall and subsequently hitting the Swiss. The Belgian driver had to take his car back to the pits, and later retiring from the race.

Buemi would end the race P11, behind Edoardo Mortara and Lucas Di Grassi.

 

Andrea Perilli

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