Race report: Diriyah E-Prix, round 3 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
Pascal Wehrlein wins again at the second night race in Diriyah with his Porsche 99X Electric Gen3.
With this double strike, he now leads the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
The Porsche 99X Electric Gen 3 has won all three races in season 9.
Race four will be contested in Hyderabad, India, on 11 February.
Porsche has celebrated an outstanding weekend in Formula E: after his victory on Friday Pascal Wehrlein (GER) won the second night race at the Diriyah E-Prix, at the wheel of the new Porsche 99X Electric Gen3. Thanks to this double victory in Saudi Arabia, he takes the lead in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
The double strike in Diriyah makes the start of the season perfect for the new Porsche 99X Electric Gen3. So far, the Weissach-developed electric racing car has won all season 9 races: after Porsche’s customer team Avalanche Andretti won the season opener in Mexico, Pascal Wehrlein has followed up with two victories in Diriyah for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team. His teammate António Félix da Costa (POR), the 2020 Formula E champion, crossed the finish line on the city circuit in the capital of Riyadh in eleventh place.
After round three of 16 races, Pascal Wehrlein now leads the drivers’ classification of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with 68 points. António Félix da Costa lies twelfth with six points. In the team rankings, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team is second with 74 points.
Race 3
After a strong qualifying performance, Pascal Wehrlein tackled the second night race in Diriyah on Saturday from P5. Shortly after the start, he gained one position and waited for his chance behind the tight leading pack. Thanks to a flawless race strategy and his Porsche 99X Electric Gen3’s extremely efficient powertrain, he had moved into third place by lap twelve of the 40-lap race, and then second place shortly afterwards. On lap 17, Wehrlein swept into the lead and fended off his rivals to the flag.
Comments on the Diriyah E-Prix, Race 3
Thomas Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport: “That was a fantastic weekend. The entire team’s hard work is finally being rewarded. I’m very proud of everyone on the squad. We’ve done our homework, now we need to stay focussed. The season is still long and we know how tough the competition is in this world championship. But after this success, it’s now time to celebrate.”
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E: “A sensational weekend for Porsche with two wins for the Porsche 99X Electric Gen3. We can be proud of our development team in Weissach and of our team at the track, which once again executed our strategy perfectly today. We also made progress in qualifying in Diriyah. Pascal secured a much better starting position today with P5 – an advantage he made perfect use of. He got off to a great start, then meticulously fought his way up the order to ultimately take the lead and not let it go.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#94): “I’ll never forget this weekend. Two wins are an unbelievable success. The whole team gave a fantastic performance over the weekend. Everybody worked hard for this achievement and I’m incredibly proud of the team. Today we had blistering race pace and a perfect strategy. We used the attack mode at exactly the right time. That was a decisive advantage. When I won on Friday I had to overtake more cars, but today’s race was even more difficult. You could see that our rivals were catching up. That means we can’t rest on our laurels either.”
António Félix da Costa, Porsche works driver (#13): “Another terrific day for Porsche. Congratulations to Pascal and the whole team. Things ran a little better for me today. We’re making progress every day, but of course, we aren’t quite where I’d like us to be yet. But that’s just a question of time. We have a fantastic car. I’m highly motivated and I know I have a superb team behind me. The successes will come.”
Next up
The next race for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team is on 11 February with the Hyderabad E-Prix – race 4 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. This is the first Formula E race in India.
