After Dan Ticktum (Kiro Cupra), Nyck de Vries (Mahindra) won the second race of the Formula E weekend in Tokyo following a race interrupted by a red flag near the finish.
Read more Ferrari finally tests Mercedes’ secret trick that can win pole position
The Dutchman finished ahead of Nick Cassidy, who secured another podium for Citroën, while Jake Dennis (Andretti) took the lead in the championship with one race to go.
Held under persistent rain, the race started behind the safety car before a standing start was given.
In the rain
Despite tricky conditions, Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) kept the advantage of his pole position ahead of António Félix da Costa (Jaguar). The Portuguese driver quickly responded. Activating his first Attack mode on the third lap, he took the lead of the race one lap later before quickly building a gap of more than four seconds over Mortara.
Mid-race, Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) joined the fight by overtaking Ticktum for third place. A few laps later, a collision between Sébastien Buemi (Envision) and Pepe Martí (Kiro Cupra), who was sent into the wall, caused a Full Course Yellow, bunching up the field again.
After the restart, Barnard used his Attack mode to take the lead with a superb overtake. Behind him, a fierce battle raged between Oliver Rowland (Nissan), Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche), and Mitch Evans (Jaguar), while Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën) took advantage of a setup better suited to a drying track to make an impressive comeback.
A completely reshuffled finish
The Frenchman successively overtook Ticktum, Mortara, da Costa, then Barnard to take the lead of the race, recalling his spectacular comeback in Shanghai earlier in the season.
Read more Pirelli specifies its tire choices for Zandvoort, Monza, and Madrid
The order remained extremely fluid due to the different Attack modes. Nyck de Vries took the lead on lap 28, before Nick Cassidy (Citroën) passed him with four laps to go. The Mahindra driver immediately regained his position, while Dennis, starting from the back of the grid, climbed up to the front and even seemed capable of fighting for the win.
But with two laps remaining, an accident between Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) and Joel Eriksson (Envision) caused a spectacular pile-up, leading to the red flag. The interruption procedure also triggered an investigation into Vergne, who stopped on the starting grid instead of joining the pit lane with the rest of the field.
Dennis new championship leader
The race finally resumed for a single lap behind the safety car. De Vries kept the lead ahead of Cassidy, Dennis, Rowland, and Vergne until the checkered flag.
The Dutchman thus secured an important win for Mahindra, while Nick Cassidy earned a second consecutive podium, delivering another strong result for Citroën just one week after the sudden death of the team principal, Cyril Blais (43 years old).
Third after a remarkable comeback from the back of the grid, Jake Dennis (Andretti) takes the lead in the championship with only 2 points ahead of Evans and 5 ahead of Wehrlein before the final round of the season, which will take place in London on August 15 and 16.
Read more Toto Wolff still does not rule out the possibility of Verstappen at Mercedes