Formula E: Rowland takes victory for Nissan in Mexico City

F1 Grand Prix, GP United States, Circuit of The Americas

A stunning series of overtaking manoeuvres enabled Oliver Rowland to take victory for Nissan at the Mexico City E-Prix. F1Technical's reports on Round 2 of the 2024/2025 Formula E season.

Starting from pole position, Pascal Wehrlein hung on to the lead into the first corner, with Felix da Costa and Jean Eric Vergne following him.

On Lap 3, McLaren driver Taylor Barnard became the first driver to activate his first of two attack modes. His higher energy mode enabled him to go past former FE champion Lucas di Grassi and his Lola Yamaha team-mate Zane Maloney on Lap 5. The Briton then went on to overtake the Maserati pair of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jakes Huges as well.

The following lap saw Sam Bird, David Beckman and Vandoorne activate their first of two attack modes, as they saw how big of an advantage the higher energy mode provided.

Using his attack mode, Bird was flying up the order, overtaking his rivals corner by corner to fight his way up into P9.

Lap 13 saw Jake Dennis activate his first attack mode, going for a four-minute power boost. The extra power helped him overtake Verge to take P4. On the same lap, race leader Wehrlein and Verge elected to take their first power boost. Interestingly, both of them opted for a two-minute attack mode.

Dennis then continued his march towards the front of the field, overtaking Da Costa into Turn 1 on the next lap. The British driver managed to overtake Wehrlein in the stadium section, taking over the lead with a bold, ambitious overtaking manoeuvre.

The following lap saw Da Costa use his attack mode to overtake his team-mate Wehrlein before going past Dennis to take over the lead. Andretti driver Nico Mueller also overtook former race leader Wehrlein.

With Da Costa electing to take his second attack mode, he dropped back behind Dennis, who set the quickest race lap on Lap 22.

Coming into the stadium section, Da Costa managed to pick off race leader Dennis despite being on the same power mode. In the meantime, the top three drivers, Da Costa, Dennis and Wehrlein appeared to have escaped from the chasing group, having built up an advantage of over a second.

With eight laps to go, fourth-placed Oliver Rowland elected to take his second, six-minute attack mode..

In the meantime, Beckmann came to a halt in the slow 90-degree corner ahead of the stadium section. The German was unable to get his Cupra Kiro going, and race director Scot Elkins, who returned to Formula E after missing the season-opening race at Sao Paulo, deployed the safety car.

The action resumed on Lap 31, and third-placed Oliver Rowland suddenly found himself in a great position, as he still had almost a second of attack mode. The Nissan racer first overtook Wehrlein only to go past Da Costa a few moments later.

The field was not even able to complete a single lap at full pace as safety was deployed again because of the sticken car of Mitch Evans, but the action resumed a lap later.

With only four laps to go, Rowland found himself at the front of the field, with da Costa, Wehrlein and Dennis following him. The Race Direction announced that there will be no added laps to the race despite the two short safety car interventions.

Da Costa had two per cent more energy than Rowland, but with only two laps to got, the Briton managed to fend off the attacks of the Porsche racer to win the Mexico City E-Prix for Nissan.

Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein finished third, with Dennis finishing fourth.

Vergne and Guenther rounded in fifth and sixth, Maserati driver Vandoorne followed in seventh with more points for Nyck de Vries and Mahindra Racing with eighth. Andretti's Nico Mueller and McLaren's Taylor Barnard completed the top 10.