Formula E: Dennis wins Sunday’s Rome E-Prix as his championship rivals falter

Avalanche Andretti driver Jake Dennis took an important victory in this weekend’s second Rome E-Prix as his main championship rivals were hit by various troubles on the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR. F1Technical’s senior writer Balázs Szabó reports on Race 2 of this weekend’s double-header Rome E-Prix from the Rome EUR paddock.

This weekend marked the penultimate round of the 2022/2023 FIA Formula E World Championship before the field assembles in London in two weeks’ time for the season-closing double-header.

Yesterday saw Jaguar take a dominant one-two in qualifying with Mitch Evans could convert into his third Rome E-Prix win. However, his team-mate Sam Bird crashed out in the middle of the 25-lap race with multiple drivers collecting him. The incident brought out a lengthy safety car which made the Rome E-Prix the longest race in Formula E history at 1 hour 37 minutes and 2.976 seconds in length.

Following his energy management problems in yesterday’s Rome E-Prix, Jake Dennis took pole position for the second Italian race, beating his championship rival and current championship leader Nick Cassidy. Nissan driver Norman Nato took a surprising third with yesterday’s qualifying stars Mitch Evans and Sam Bird finishing the session fourth and fifth fastest.

Confirming his improving form, Maximilian Guenther put his Maserati in P6 on home turf for his team. Former championship runaway leader Pascal Wehrlein ended the session down in P15 which left him with a lot to do in the second Rome round.

McLaren was unable to replicate their great qualifying performance with Jake Hughes and Rene Rast finishing in P11 and P13 respectively. It was a tough and disappointing session for Sacha Fenestraz as well as the Frenchman brought up the rear of the field following his eye-catching performance in yesterday’s qualifying session.

Jake Dennis maintained the lead at the start of the 24-lap race with Nyck Cassidy, Norman Nato, Mitch Evans, Sam Bird and Maximilian Guenther also hanging on to their starting position.

However, on Lap 2, Cassidy was eager to overtake the race leader on the outside of Turn 7, but as the pair battled it out, Evans misjudged his braking point and ran into the back of his countryman. With the pair first unable to get their cars going again, Safety Car was deployed.

The incident caused significant damage to the car of both Kiwis, meaning that they had to dive into the pits for new front wings. With the safety car leaving the track just after two laps, yesterday’s winner Evans had no time to close in on the pack. He completed two laps, but he was forced to retire from the action due to further damage to his car which the team was unable to repair during his pit stop.

When the race restarted, Nato appeared to have great performance and made multiple attempts to snatch the lead from Dennis. However, the Frenchman touched the rear of Dennis’ car on Lap 6, damaging his front wing. Despite the relatively significant damage, the Nissan driver did not lose any performance and stayed out.

Following the incident, Dennis managed to stretch his legs a little bit which allowed him to take his first 50kW attack mode and maintain the lead. Nato followed suit, but he lost a place to Bird and dropped back to third.

On Lap 13, Bird decided to take his first power boost which saw him slip back behind Nato and Sebastien Buemi in P4. Dennis and Nato then went through the activation zone for the second and final time while Bird reclaimed third place.

While the Jaguar racer appeared to have more pace than the two leading drivers, he was unable to capitalize on them as Nato managed to fend off any attacks Bird made.

In the meantime, Dennis was able to stretch his legs and build up a small gap from Nato to clinch his second win of the season.

Nato came home second, claiming his first podium finish of the season with Bird securing the last spot on the podium. Maserati continued their upward trajectory with their drivers Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Guenther finishing the 24-lap race in P4 and P6 respectively. After retiring from the action yesterday, Envision Racing driver Buemi finished in P4 sandwiched in the Maserati pair.

Former championship runaway leader Pascal Wehlein endured a difficult qualifying session, but managed to climb up the order to take a seventh-place finish ahead of DS Penske’s reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne. Finishing in the points for the fifth time in 2023, Dan Ticktum put his NIO car in P9 with Team Abt’s Nico Mueller rounding out the top ten.