Mortara takes championship lead with Puebla win

Edoardo Mortara won in the second race of the Puebla E-Prix after a strong drive, going from third to first. The Swiss now sits first in the championship. 

Mortara had a dominant performance throughout the race. He had started from third place, and as soon as red lights went out he quickly passed Pascal Wehrlein to run in second. Oliver Rowland, who had started the race from pole, went for his two Attack Modes early into the race, which allowed Mortara to move up to P1.

From then on, the Swiss would never move off the lead and despite Wehrlein’s continuous attempts to overtake him, the Venturi driver showed an unbeatable pace that took him to the first step on the podium. This is Venturi’s first win in the season.

Wehrlein, who crossed the finish line in first place yesterday but was disqualified seconds later, could not reach for the front again today, but finished the race in second place.

However, he was informed after the end of the race that he was under investigation for maximum power usage.

On third place came Nick Cassidy, who had a brilliant performance moving up several places and ultimately overtaking Rowland in the last lap to secure his maiden Formula E podium.

After losing the race lead with an alternative Attack Mode strategy, Rowland could not find a way back through, despite being close several times. He initially dropped to third after kissing the wall in a two-car battle against Wehrlein, and was later passed by Cassidy to finish in fourth place.

Completing the Top 5, came BMW’s Jake Dennis who had another good run today.

The race had many retirements. The first driver to abandon was Nyck de Vries after a contact with Lucas di Grassi that put him out of contention and earned Di Grassi a drive through penalty.

Both NIO drivers could not finish, while Techeetah’s Antonio Felix da Costa had a strong crash against the wall that damaged his car and forced him to retire.

Luck was not on the other side of the Venturi garage, as Norman Nato did not finish the race. Similar fate happened to Alexander Sims, who retired in the last laps of the E-Prix.