Formula E: First Time in Jakarta - Porsche Came Back in the First Race!

Jakarta also managed to keep the excitement in Formula E high with its 2.75-kilometer-long track, which wound through the streets of the Indonesian capital. Nevertheless, the cool head won: With a comparatively calm drive, Pascal Wehrlein won the first race of the Gulavit Jakarta E-Prix, catapulting his TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team back to the top of the team standings. He fought hard against Jake Dennis of the Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team, who reacted strongly after the race and claimed that the Porsche driver had made a "ridiculous" maneuver that forced Dennis to take evasive action. The "laughing third" was Maserati MSG Racing driver Maximilian Günther. He kept up with the lead group throughout the race and finished third. He started from pole position, the first Maserati pole in single-seater motorsport since 1958.

Wehrlein started third and swapped the lead with polesitter Günther in the first third of the E-Prix after managing to overtake his compatriot for the first time on lap 4. From lap 12 and the second activation of Attack Mode, which lasted eight instead of four minutes for the first time in Jakarta, Wehrlein had the race under control despite the hot and humid 35 degrees Celsius outside temperature. In the end, he was happy:

“Of course, it feels great. It was a very good race, the qualifying was much better than in the last races. Many thanks to the team, the car was fantastic today, I was in the lead for almost the entire race. I knew the guys behind me had a bit more energy, and slipstreaming helps as well. But I think we defended well and are happy to be back at the top. The team definitely deserved it, and now we’re looking forward to tomorrow.”

Dennis started second and also finished second, with his power not quite enough to overtake Wehrlein’s factory Porsche 99X Electric. His push to the front was also threatened by a late attack from Günther, which gave Wehrlein some breathing space. Dennis was frustrated at the end:

“I’m pretty annoyed, to be honest. Obviously, you’re having a good season if you’re annoyed about finishing second, but the start ultimately cost me the race, we had too much wheel spin in the dust and fell back to fourth. The maneuver with Pascal was ridiculous, I had to be extremely careful not to run into the back of him. Honestly, I don’t know how he got away with it - it’s ridiculous.”

He only lashed out at Wehrlein, as in his frustration, he continued:

“The other two guys did it perfectly, they left us the space for a car, as the rule is, and then Pascal simply came over to the wall and I had to fully brake halfway down the straight. He had already decided to overtake, and at that point, you have to leave space - and he didn’t. We can’t protest against them now because they also have a Porsche powertrain. It’s a bit ridiculous.”

Ultimately, Günther found no way past. Good for the Stellantis group: The DS Penske teammates Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne finished fourth and fifth, Günther's Maserati MSG Racing teammate Edoardo Mortara finished sixth, making the Stellantis group occupy positions three to six.

As the laughing third, Günther was happy:

“I’m happy. Of course, we always want to win. When you start from pole as a racing driver, you want to win. We led for a few laps, but it just wasn’t enough to beat the two cars with Porsche powertrains. They did a fantastic job from the start, congratulations to Jake and Pascal. I had a few small problems, the car wasn’t as perfect as on the other days of the weekend, but it was still good. I’m satisfied with what we achieved today and this weekend, and it’s fantastic to be back on the podium! It was the maximum today, and we’re trying to keep improving.”

What nobody knew on Saturday: Günther would keep his word!

Championship leader Nick Cassidy from Envision Racing had bad luck this time: He had to work his way through the field from far behind and tried his best to overtake Vergne halfway through the race. He was lucky when he collided with Vergne from behind in lap 20 but narrowly avoided damage to both front corners of his car and finished seventh. António Félix da Costa in the second Porsche came in eighth, about 15 seconds behind Cassidy. Robin Frijns continued his impressive qualifying performance and secured the first points of the season for the Abt Cupra Formula E Team by finishing ninth.

Jake Hughes rounded out the top 10 for the Neom McLaren Formula E Team. He received the “ABB Driver of Progress Award” for making up the most positions in the race, having started from 20th position.

For Jaguar TCS Racing, the first race in Jakarta was a debacle: As in Hyderabad, both drivers clashed again, with Sam Bird shooting Mitch Evans out of the decisive points from eighth position late in the race. Jake Dennis, No. 27, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, said:

"I’m pretty annoyed, to be honest. Obviously, you have a good season when you’re frustrated with second place, but the start ultimately cost me the race. We had too much wheelspin in the dust and fell back to fourth. The move with Pascal was ridiculous; I had to put so much pressure on to avoid hitting his rear. Honestly, I don’t know how he got away with it – it’s ridiculous. The other two guys did it perfectly, they left us just enough space as per the rules, then Pascal swerved all the way to the wall, and I had to brake halfway down the straight. He had already decided to overtake, and at that point, you need to leave space, which he didn’t do. We can’t protest against them because they also have a Porsche powertrain. It's a bit ridiculous.”

What does that mean?

Porsche came back, and Dennis remained strong – and took second place, also with Porsche power.