Bethonie WaringEdoardo Mortara claimed the lead of the 2021-22 Formula E championship with his third victory of the season after winning the Marrakesh E-Prix.
An early Attack Mode strategy didn’t work out for the Techeetah duo, and pole sitter Antonio Felix Da Costa had to settle for second.
Da Costa got a good lead in the opening laps, leaving Mortara to battle against Jean-Eric Vergne and Jake Dennis. He briefly lost the lead to Mortara when he and Vergne went through Attack Mode. Mortara took the extra power the following lap and quickly found a way back past da Costa.
Despite Da Costa almost immediately going back through the Attack Mode once his first portion was through, he couldn’t come back past Mortara.
Instead he spent the middle part of the race battling Oliver Rowland and Mitch Evans. Both drivers managed to get ahead on separate occasions, but Da Costa was never behind for long.
In the closing stages of the race, Mortara had a small gap to the rest of the field, having not had to defend much. The two Techeetah cars were running nose to tail in second and third. Da Costa was ordered to allow Vergne past so he could catch Mortara, but Vergne could not close the gap. The pole sitter was eventually allowed to come back through and challenge for the lead himself. Da Costa closed in on Mortara but couldn’t keep up with him and finished 2.297s behind.
Evans passed Vergne for third late on, while Lucas Di Grassi climbed up to fifth after a close battle with Nyck de Vries.
Stoffel Vandoorne, who came into the round leading the championship, climbed from the back of the grid up to eighth. He dropped down to P3 in the championship standings.
After a strong start, Jake Dennis slipped back to seventh ahead of Vandoorne and Sam Bird. Oliver Rowland completed the top 10.
