Pascal Wehrlein claimed a sensational victory under the lights at the Riyadh Street Circuit, after recovering from ninth on the grid to achieve his second victory in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
It was a Diriyah E-Prix that Wehrlein won’t forget anytime soon, with the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver having backed-up his second place finish at the season opener in sublime fashion. Wehrlein’s energy management was arguably better than anyone else’s, as he once again worked his way through the field with relative ease, similarly to how Mexico City.
It seemed to take the German no time at all to get from ninth to the lead, with the ex-Formula 1 driver having worked his way through the top five particularly quickly. He overtook Sam Bird for the lead late on in the race and was then forced to defend from Jake Dennis in the final few laps; however, Wehrlein had the pace to hold on for a memorable victory. To make things even better for the Porsche driver, he gets to do it all over again on Saturday, with this weekend being a double-header.
Wehrlein hailed his first victory of the Gen3 era as “incredible”, with the German having ben quick to thank his entire team, who he remains “so grateful to have”.
“It feels incredible. I am so proud of these guys, unbelievable – what a car I had today. I mean from P9 to P1, amazing, I am so grateful to have this team. It has been a lot of work. We always wanted to achieve these kind of results, we had some highlights in the past but definitely this year we wanted to do a big step forward.
“I know how hard these guys are working, I am also quite often with them and pushing with everyone, especially after the testing in Valencia we were not looking that strong so I know how many hours everyone has put in. To start this well in the season in the first and second race is amazing, like I said I am just thankful for everyone and their hard work – we keep pushing.”
