To help his Envision Racing Team lift the Teams’ World Championship on the last day of the season.
During the first race of the double header on Saturday, Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) jumped onto the top step with a race win, but British driver Jake Dennis behind the wheel of his Avalanche Andretti machine in second, tallied up enough points to became the ABB FIA Formula E Driver World Champion – the first British driver to do so in the nine-year history of the championship. Following the coronation of Dennis, the second round of the weekend on the Sunday (30 July) would see the attention switch from the race in the Drivers’ World Championship to that of the Teams, with Envision Racing and Jaguar TCS Racing going toe-to-toe for the headline bout.
In Qualifying earlier in the day, advantage Nick Cassidy and Envision Racing who secured back-to-back front row London E-Prix starts, and more importantly three additional points to give themselves a larger gap over Envision’s powertrain providers Jaguar TCS Racing in the Teams’ World Championship. Jaguar’s leading light Mitch Evans would line-up right alongside in second with Nissan Formula E Team driver Norman Nato in third ahead of newly crowned ABB FIA Formula E World Champion Jake Dennis in fourth.
The warm and dry race on Saturday was replaced with wet and slippery conditions on the Sunday. Run behind the Safety Car for the opening five laps, the drivers tip-toed their way around the greasy indoor, outdoor circuit. After the sighting laps, it was decided to Red Flag the proceedings to allow the heavy rainfall to pass and to clear the standing water. After excellent work by the marshals and track team, an hour and a half later, the final round of season nine was to get underway in front of a packed crowd in the London Docklands.
When the race restarted, the front two of Cassidy and Evans scampered away from the chasing pack. The fight for the Teams’ world title would be settled between the two New Zealanders. Following the heartbreak of a retirement 24 hours earlier, and the end of his title hopes, Envision star Nick Cassidy performed a masterclass to bounce back following a difficult Saturday. Cassidy threaded the eye of the needle and used his first on the road advantage to work his way to the final win of the year and his fourth of the season. His result brought home the silverware to the Envison Racing team. The Jaguar customer team bettered its previous third in the World Championship standings with first overall in the highly competitive Teams’ World Championship thanks to the consistency of Cassidy and Envision Racing stablemate Sébastien Buemi throughout the 2022/23 season.
Behind Cassidy, fellow countryman Mitch Evans did everything he could to halt the Envision attack. The Jaguar driver couldn’t live with the pace of Cassidy in the early stages but once the spray had depleted – Evans could focus himself on the target ahead of him – punching in fastest lap after fastest lap, trying to grab any points available to him. His second place wasn’t to be enough this time as Jaguar TCS Racing would go onto securing second in the world championship.
2022/23 Champion elect Jake Dennis rounded out his successful weekend on home soil in fine style, claiming the final rostrum position and snatching fastest lap from Evans on the final lap to cap off an excellent season. Norman Nato for Nissan had a quiet but calculated race to fourth ahead of outgoing World Champion Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske) in fifth.
The teams’ world championship battle was also tantalising further down the field as Sam Bird (Jaguar TCS Racing) and Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing) went tooth and nail for an extra haul of team points. Bird held the advantage in the early stages, but in the final third of the race, Buemi was in an inspired mood. Pounding over the curbs and power sliding around the corners, the Swiss driver wrung the neck of the car and sensed a move was possible. Down the start, finish straight, Bird went defensive on the inside allowing Buemi to go late on the brakes and round the outside, millimetres away from the Jaguar driver. Buemi completed the textbook switch back manoeuvrer – blocking any reply from Bird and pushed onto record sixth ahead of Bird in seventh – the icing on the cake for Envision Racing.
Following the thrilling conclusion of the 2022/23 season, the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will return for Season 10 on the 13th January with Mexico City hosting the opening E-Prix of a new season.
Nick Cassidy, No 37, Envision Racing, said:
“It’s mixed emotions but ultimately I’m very happy because today was a difficult day for me mostly because I didn’t sleep well last night, I arrived late - but I did the business so I’m proud. The team have been absolutely incredible. They’re an incredible bunch of people and they work so hard. Of course every team does but these guys have been close on so many occasions and I think that just shows how strong they have been in this championship, and to finally get it done for them I am super super happy.”
Mitch Evans, No. 9, Jaguar TCS Racing, said:
“Big disappointment. Obviously, we didn’t finish as World Champions in the Teams. Look, Nick did a great job and the other guys did a great job. He responded to me when I was catching him and I didn’t have enough – full credit to him. I did my best but just came a little short. Massive thanks to everyone in Jaguar TCS Racing. Obviously we can take a lot of pride with the Envision World Championship too. Thanks to everyone – we’ll keep pushing on in the office season and come back better next year.”
Jake Dennis, No. 27, Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team, said:
“We're beating our own records right now. To get the podium at the end of the day was special in such difficult conditions with the wet and dry sections - but we managed to do it, keep it out of the wall and we were pretty quick, but we needed to be. I think we needed a clean race, try and get that podium, celebrate now with everyone and really try and let it all sink in. I have to thank these guys, all of them [the team]. They've done so much hard work not just this year but also last year. It's been such a team effort and we scored so many wins, so many pole positions and so many podiums. I get to celebrate with them together so I'm looking forward to that, call it a season and come back next year. I'll be hungover tomorrow! I don't know what my drink of choice will be but there will be one.”
Sylvain Filippi , Managing Director & Chief Technical Officer, Envision Racing, said:
"Thank you. It took us nine years and it’s an incredible feeling. It’s been an incredible season, it’s all been so close. An incredible job from the team and as you know we were in very close competition with Jaguar TCS Racing but we’ve had the most amazing car. It’s fast and it’s got us where we are today. We issued a team pep talk and chat late last night to regroup everyone. But ultimately our team is very strong and that is why I am so proud of them."
