Formula E: Max Gunther wins race in Tokyo

One of the special guests of the first Japanese stage in Formula E history was Yuki Tsunoda, a driver from the Visa RB team, who will be at the start of the Japanese Grand Prix in a week.

Yuki honestly said that he was jealous because the Formula E race is held in Tokyo and the Formula 1 race in Suzuka, so far from the capital of his home country. Tsunoda has already taken a spin on the new city circuit on a simulator and admitted that he was impressed by the acceleration dynamics of modern electric racing vehicles.

“I would also like to see Formula E and Formula 1 work more closely together, which would make motorsport even more popular in Japan,” he added.

However, the popularity of technical sports in the Land of the Rising Sun is already in perfect order, judging by the fact that there were quite a few fans in the stands of the city circuit in Tokyo.

In addition, Oliver Rowland, a Nissan factory team driver, started from pole. In general, the first rows of the starting field looked somewhat unusual, since there were almost no electric series favorites there. Jake Dennis, the reigning Formula E champion, and Pascal Wehrlein, the Porsche factory driver who was in second place in the individual standings, only started from the third row. And for example, Nick Cassidy, the championship leader who will play for Jaguar in 2024, could not get above 19th position at all.

However, as Yuki suggested, there are opportunities to overtake at the Tokyo circuit, so everyone was looking forward to an interesting race, as those who were unlucky in qualifying would certainly try to find their way forward.

Rowland started well but Edoardo Mortara, a Mahindra driver, immediately tried to attack him, but Oliver fought back in the opening corners. Max Günther, a Maserati driver, came third, but was already eliminated by Dennis, who had beaten Sergio Sette Camara at the start. On the third lap Wehrlein overtook the Brazilian and after a few laps he let Robin Frijns and António Felix da Costa take the lead.

But in general, in the first laps there was no particularly bright battle on the track – probably, while everyone preferred to be careful.

On lap 7, yellow flags briefly appeared as McLaren driver Jake Hughes spun, although it was initially not entirely clear whether he had made a mistake himself or whether this was the result of some incident. However, the battle throughout the lap soon resumed as Hughes was able to continue driving, albeit with a slightly damaged car. And only later during the broadcast of the race did they show a replay of this episode: it turned out that he was pushed against the bump stops by one of the ABT Cupra team riders.

On the 9th lap the drivers started to drive off the line in a special sector of the track to activate the increased power mode, although in the top ten so far only Wehrlein has done this, and he even managed to regain his fifth place retain. position. But soon his example was followed by the leader of the race, who also remained the leader, but Gunther managed to rise to 2nd position, ahead of Mortara.

On the eleventh lap he started to put pressure on the leader, but Rowland defended skillfully. Gunther temporarily took the lead when the Nissan driver used Attack Mode again, but after some time Oliver regained the position.

When half the distance was behind, Rowland remained in the lead, he was closely followed by Gunther, followed by Mortara, da Costa was behind him and Dennis completed the top five.

At the same time, Gunther complained to his team on the radio that Rowland was acting too risky in defending the position.

On the 18th lap, Mitch Evans, the Jaguar driver who usually manages to run at the front, dropped out of the race for points. The New Zealander hit the barrier heavily due to contact with Robin Frijns’ car, but continued, although he lost a lot of ground and his electric car was quite seriously damaged.

Due to carbon waste on the asphalt, a safety car came out on the 21st lap and the race was temporarily canceled. Evans took advantage of this situation, returned to the pits, where his Jaguar’s nose cone was replaced, and returned to the track, but was now of course one of the last to drive.

On lap 22 a restart took place and Rowland again managed to hold the first position, and generally everyone in the group of leaders remained in their places, although Gunther actively pressed Oliver and Da Costa pressed with all his might on Mortara. perhaps in an attempt to steal 3rd place from him.

On lap 25, Gunther took the lead of the race, although it looked like Rowland had simply let him pass – perhaps he was simply forced to do so, as he already had to conserve battery power. As further developments showed, this was a tactical maneuver, as Oliver expected to win back closer to the finish.

As soon as Max found himself on the open track, he immediately began to increase his lead, and soon his lead exceeded one second, allowing him to use attack mode without losing position – it was clear that he was seriously aiming to win.

Since Mortara activated high-power mode for the last time, da Costa moved to third position and Dennis to fourth as he left the line.

The decision of the race management to extend the distance by two laps was announced – in Formula E this happens when the race is interrupted by the appearance of an electric safety car.

On the 33rd lap da Costa tried to attack Rowland and was about to take the lead, but Oliver pushed him aside very hard and did not give up his 2nd position, while the Portuguese was forced to brake urgently not to doing. crashed into the barriers, lost speed and also let Dennis go ahead.

Just before the finish, Rowland launched a decisive attack on Gunther, and their battle continued throughout the last lap, and several times it seemed that the Nissan driver could take the lead, but Max defended himself skillfully and completely correctly. As a result, his Maserati electric car crossed the finish line first, 0.755 seconds ahead of his opponent – much to the delight of the Italian team, of course!

Oliver Rowland took second place, Jake Dennis climbed to the third step of the podium, Antonio Felix da Costa finished fourth, Pascal Wehrlein finished fifth.

For 26-year-old Gunther, this is his fifth win in Formula E, but he won the first three while driving for BMW, and now he is enjoying success for the second time with Maserati. This allowed him to rise to 5th place in the individual rankings, while Nick Cassidy, who finished seventh today, is still leading the world championship standings.

But Pascal Wehrlein took fifth place in Tokyo, and he has exactly the same number of points: 63, therefore on the double Italian stage in Misano, which will take place in two weeks, the fundamental battle for leadership in the World Championship will continue.