Mahindra Racing driver Pascal Wehrlein ended Maxmillian Gunther’s hold on the ABB FIA Formula E Race At Home Challenge by winning the third round of series around the streets of Monte-Carlo.
The German took pole position and dominated the event from lights to flag, beating Mercedes-Benz EQ driver Stoffel Vandoorne by 3.1 s at the end of the 15 lap race.
But the German driver’s hold on the race was in part precipitated by a hectic start to the race with a massive pile-up out of St. Devote all the way down to the Harbour Hairpin.
Vandoorne got involved in a first-corner crash with Edoardo Mortara and Nico Muller which saw the Belgian half-spin and was then righted by the Swiss-Italian racer.
Mortara himself then slid across the wall and the Jaguar of Mitch Evans then hit the Venturi all the way down to the hairpin.
Mortara fell out of the points while Evans was in last place by the end of the opening lap and was the first to be eliminated in the race Royale Format.
At the front of the order, Wehrlein led by 1.7 s over Vandoorne while series leader Maxmillian Gunther leapfrogged his way into third place after starting sixth on the grid.
The top three remained pretty much equidistant throughout with both Wehrlein and Vandoorne getting the better of the BMW racer to narrow his championship to just 21 points over his fellow German.
Throughout the rest of the order, Neel Jani finished fourth ahead of Robin Frijns, Oliver Rowland, Andre Lotterer, Nico Mueller, Ma Qinghua and Mortara completing the order after a crazy race around the streets of Monaco.
The race royale format once again spiced up the action with former champions Lucas Di Grassi, Sebastien Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne being eliminated early on yet again.
Challenger Race
BMW-affiliated simracer Kevin Siggy took his first victory of the season in the Challenge series for simracers and guest drivers at Monaco.
This result means that Siggy now leads the championship for Challenge racers by 16 points over Peyo Peev with Petar Brljak just a point further behind.
The winner of the championshipship for the challenge racers will get the opportunity to drive a Gen 2 Formula E car for real once racing gets back underway as well as a place in the BMW Sim M2 CS Racing Cup finals at the Nurburgring.
The Race At Home Challenge is in association with UNICEF’s Coronavirus fund, so to donate please follow the link.
