Pascal Wehrlein is very much back in the title fight, with the German having claimed a strong victory in the first of two races this weekend in Jakarta.
Having lost the championship lead recently in Monaco, Wehrlein was a driver on a mission from the start of the Jakarta E-Prix, with him seemingly recognising how important the tenth and eleventh rounds of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship are. Whilst the eleventh round takes place on Sunday, Wehrlein qualified third for the tenth round on Saturday, whilst championship leader Nick Cassidy could only manage tenth.
The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver made a solid start and slotted into second at the opening corner, before overtaking Maximilian Günther for the race lead a few laps later. Wehrlein controlled the race beautifully and was largely unchallenged throughout, with the exception being a brief attempt at blocking Jake Dennis on the run to Turn One.
It was a win which Wehrlein desperately needed, with him recognising that it was the “big turnaround” that he’s been looking for after not finishing on the rostrum since the end of January. Following his win, he cut Cassidy’s lead from twenty points to just two, ahead of Sunday’s second race of the weekend.
Wehrlein was ecstatic after the race, with him now targeting back-to-back wins on Sunday just like he did in Diriyah.
“It feels awesome obviously,” Wehrlein said after the race.
“A very good race, qualifying was much better than in previous races. Thanks a lot to the team, the car was awesome today, I was leading almost the whole race. It was not so easy on energy for me, I knew that the guys behind had a little bit more, and also driving in the slipstream helps. But I think we defended well and happy to be back on top. The team definitely deserves it and now we are looking forward to tomorrow.
“The last couple of races we were not where we wanted to be, hadn’t scored the points we wanted and qualifying was an issue for us. Today with P3 we qualified in the best position so far this season. A big turnaround for us in the last couple of weeks, and like I said thanks a lot to the team for all their hard work. Still a long way to go.”
