 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II
| ||
|---|---|---|
 The Diriyah E-Prix Circuit returned in 2022. | ||
| Race Information | ||
| Date | 29 January 2022 | |
| E-Prix No. | 86 (2 of 2021/22) | |
| Official Name | 2022 SAUDIA Diriyah E-Prix II | |
| Location |  Ad Diriyah Street CircuitDiriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia | |
| Format | 45 min + 1 Lap | |
| Lap length | 2.495 km (1.550 mi) | |
| Distance | 35 laps / 87.325 km (54.261 mi) | |
| Qualifying Result | ||
| Pole Sitter |  Nyck de Vries
| |
| Team |  Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team
| |
| Time | 1:07.154 | |
| Fastest Lap | ||
| Driver |  Stoffel Vandoorne
| |
| Team | Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team
| |
| Fastest Lap | 1:08.917 on lap 24 | |
| ePrix Result | ||
| First | Second | Third |
 Edoardo Mortara
|
Robin Frijns
|
 Lucas di Grassi
|
| Winner Team |  ROKiT Venturi Racing
| |
| Time | 47:02.131 | |
| ePrix Guide | ||
| Previous | Next | |
| 2022 Diriyah E-Prix I
|
 2022 Mexico City E-Prix
| |
The 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II, formally known as the 2022 SAUDIA Diriyah E-Prix II, was the second round of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, staged at the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit in Diriyah, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on 29 January 2022.[1] The race would see Edoardo Mortara sweep to victory, as a late and controversial Safety Car effectively ended the race with seven minutes to go.[2]
Qualifying had seen defending Champion and opening day victor Nyck de Vries maintain his excellent form, with the Dutchman defeating Mortara in the duel for pole position by 0.005s.[3] de Vries himself had already toppled Mortara's teammate Lucas di Grassi in the Semi-Final, while Mortara had to best Robin Frijns to get into the duel for pole, with Frijns ending up in third as the first non-Mercedes powered car on the grid.[3]
The start of the race saw de Vries instantly convert pole position into an early lead, the #17 Mercedes darting away unopposed as Mortara fended off the advances of Frijns.[2] Behind, a storming start from Oliver Rowland carried the #30 Mahindra into seventh from tenth on the grid, while Stoffel Vandoorne, a surprise struggler in qualifying, remained towards the back of the midfield.[2]
The early laps saw de Vries, Mortara, Frijns and di Grassi make an early break, although they were stalked by André Lotterer and Jean-Éric Vergne as the lead group settled down.[2] Behind, there were some interesting machinations as Jake Dennis, António Félix da Costa and Pascal Wehrlein fought behind Rowland, with Dennis duly overhauling his compatriot by arming Attack Mode earlier than anyone else.[2]
Frijns was the first of the lead group to arm AM, dropping behind di Grassi, with Lotterer and Vergne also arming the boost at the same moment.[2] de Vries, Mortara and di Grassi duly darted for the boost on the following tour, with the undercut not quite enough for Frijns to overhaul Mortara, although he did regain his hold on third from di Grassi.[2]
The race then settled as the first AM boost ticked away, before di Grassi caused a stir by almost instantly arming his second AM boost.[2] Mortara and Frijns instantly responded and armed their boosts but fell behind the #11 ROKiT Venturi, while de Vries bravely delayed taking the boost leaving him under attack from the former Champion.[2]
Indeed, after several attempts di Grassi was finally able to elbow his way ahead of de Vries, a move that also setup teammate Mortara to pass the factory Mercedes with ease a few moments later.[2] Mortara then darted past teammate di Grassi on the following tour to snatch the lead, while de Vries would fall to Frijns before he armed his second AM boost, leaving him under attack from Vergne.[2]
As the race neared its conclusion Mortara and di Grassi began exchanging blows, drawing them back into the sights of Frijns who had initially been unable to match their pace once AM wore off.[2] Behind, de Vries' pace was wavering even with AM, before contact with Vergne when the #25 DS Techeetah lunged inside the #17 Mercedes at turn eighteen/nineteen dumped de Vries down to ninth with damaged steering.[2]
With seven minutes to go Frijns managed to squeeze the #4 Envision Audi into second, darting past di Grassi after the #11 Venturi pilot opted to focus on energy maintenance.[2] However, a heavy accident for Alexander Sims all on his own at turn five/six a few moments later effectively ended the race, with the #30 Mahindra requiring outside assistance via a crane to be cleared.[2]
With that, and a small pile-up behind the Safety Car due to the on-track crane, the race was run, with Mortara sweeping across the line to secure victory after a "restart" at the end of the final tour.[2] Frijns was next up ahead of di Grassi, while Lotterer and Dennis managed to get ahead of Vergne to finish fourth and fifth during the Frenchman's exchange with de Vries.[2] Vandoorne was next up having set the fastest lap ahead of Rowland and Wehrlein, while de Vries himself ended the day down in tenth.[2]
Background[]
There were no changes made to either the entry list nor the Ad Diriyah Street Circuit ahead of the second race of the weekend, although there were plans to adjust the Attack Mode usage for the second battle of Diriyah.[1] Indeed, announced shortly before the race, the Attack Mode activation would be extended to 240 seconds for the second second race, and require two activations during the 45 minute E-Prix.[4]
de Vries Repeat?[]
Victory on the opening day of the campaign had seen Nyck de Vries open his title defence in near-perfect fashion, mirroring the start to his title winning run in 2020/21. His teammate and pole sitter Stoffel Vandoorne occupied second, four off the lead, while Jake Dennis opened the campaign in third, three ahead of Sam Bird. Lucas di Grassi was next up ahead of Edoardo Mortara, Nick Cassidy and Jean-Éric Vergne, Oliver Askew secured his first FE points on his debut, while Mitch Evans rounded out the opening day top ten with the final point.
In the Teams' Championship it had been a near-perfect evening for Mercedes, the German squad having fallen just one-point shy of a perfect score having secured pole position and a one-two finish. Furthermore, their customer team ROKiT Venturi Racing occupied second with eighteen points, leaving them one ahead of Avalanche Andretti, while Jaguar Racing sat in third. Envision Racing and DS Techeetah then rounded out the scorers as six teams claimed points on the opening day.
Entry List[]
The full entry list for the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II is displayed below:
Practice[]
FP1[]
FP2[]
Qualifying[]
Qualifying for the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight.[6] The field would be split into two groups of eleven drivers, based on Championship position, with each group then getting ten minutes on track to complete as many laps as they wished at 220 kW.[6] The fastest eight overall would then proceed to the knockout phase, now running at the maximum 250 kW qualifying mode, with the fastest from group A against the fourth fastest from group B and so on, until four drivers were left.[6]
Those four would move on to the Semi-Final, with the winner of A1/B4 taking on the victor of A2/B3, while the triumphant driver of A3/B2 would take on A4/B1's winner.[6] The winners from those duels would then go into the final, with the winner of that duel taking pole, while the runner-up would start from second, before any grid penalties were applied.[6]
Group A[]
First out on track in the opening group would be the two Avalanche Andrettis, Oliver Askew leading Jake Dennis out of the pits, although the Brit almost smacked into his teammate on their outlaps in a bid to pass through turn fourteen.[7] The Brit duly overtook his teammate out of turn seventeen, although he would not be the first driver to set a flying lap, as André Lotterer decided to forgo any preparation and instead launched straight into a flying lap.[7] The #36 Porsche hence set the initial benchmark at a 1:09.887, although that would barely last for a minute before Sérgio Sette Câmara hit the top of the timesheets with a 1:09.506 with Oliver Turvey a tenth behind in second.[7]
It was not long, however, before those times were blown out of the water, as Nyck de Vries set new benchmarks in all three sectors to go fastest by almost a second, a 1:08.542 leaving the #17 Mercedes on its own at the head of the hunt.[7] Oliver Rowland would grab second, surviving a slide in turn ten, before Lucas di Grassi supplanted him, but was still two tents off of the factory Mercedes.[7] With that entire group would head into the pits to change tyres, before Lotterer led Porsche teammate Pascal Wehrlein out of the pits with four minutes to go to begin the second set of runs.[7]
Wehrlein would pass Lotterer before the end of their prep-laps, narrowly missing the #36 Porsche on the entry to the final corner after Lotterer had dramatically slowed to create a gap to Sette Câmara ahead.[7] The German pilot would then catch Sette Câmara himself on his flying lap towards the end of the first sector, forcing him to abandon his run, leaving Sébastien Buemi to start the ball rolling, the Swiss racer jumping to third before Askew jumped to second a few moments later.[7] Dennis then grabbed fourth on his run, setting a new fastest final sector, before Sette Câmara shot to the top after re-overtaking Wehrlein, just before the true final efforts began.[7]
Dennis was next across the line and duly replaced Sette Câmara at the head of the hunt, with teammate Askew chasing him across the line to go fourth fastest.[7] Wehrlein was next and grabbed second, leading Sette Câmara across the line as the Brazilian claimed third, before Lotterer pushed them both back with a new benchmark effort and a new fastest third sector.[7] Rowland then replaced Lotterer before being elbowed back by de Vries, with Lucas di Grassi setting the final lap of the session to go second fastest and take a spot in the Duels.[7] The Brazilian would hence join de Vries, Rowland and Lotterer in the Quarter Finals.[7]
Group B[]
Alexander Sims and Maximilian Günther were first out of the pitlane as Group B were cleared to join the circuit, with everyone bar Edoardo Mortara, Jean-Éric Vergne and António Félix da Costa heading out in the first two minutes of the session.[7] Sims duly delivered the first flying lap of the session after a prep lap, a 1:08.8, before Günther found a tenth to go top, chased across the line by Mitch Evans in the #9 Jaguar.[7] Dan Ticktum and Antonio Giovinazzi then took over third one after the other, before Vandoorne set the fastest time of the first runs, a 1:08.257, an effort that Robin Frijns running in the wake of the #5 Mercedes could not better.[7]
With that most of the field would head back to the pits, although not before Sam Bird had slapped the wall at turn ten on his run, bending a wishbone to end his session without setting a competitive effort.[7] As the #10 Jaguar limped back to the pits Mortara would try to set his own effort, although the Swiss pilot would wind up in fourth after catching Giovinazzi and Evans in the second sector, ruining an otherwise good effort.[7] da Costa and Vergne then set their first efforts just before the six minute deadline, the Portuguese ace going fastest with a 1:08.126, while Vergne slotted into sixth.[7]
The two DS Techeetahs, Giovinazzi and Mortara would opt not to pit at the mid-point of the session, with Mortara duly taking advantage of the quiet circuit to set the fastest time of the group, a 1:07.724 just as those who had pitted began to rejoin.[7] First of the stoppers to start a run would be Evans, although the #9 Jaguar had to back off instantly as he came across a slow Günther in turn three, just as the #22 Nissan e.Dams joined the circuit from the pitlane.[7] The New Zealander duly made his thoughts on Günther's behaviour clear as he fired past the German racer through turn four, before settling in to complete another prep lap as the drivers set about positioning themselves for the their final runs.[7]
First to go would be Vergne, who delivered an okay effort to claim third, while a scruffy lap for Vandoorne, featuring slides in turns two and eight, left the #5 Mercedes on the bubble in fourth a few seconds later.[7] Sims then immediately dumped the Mercedes out of the duels as he grabbed fourth, before Frijns relegated him out of the fight by jumping to second.[7] Evans, meanwhile, was on the verge of getting into the duels before making a huge mistake at the final corner, leaving him in seventh, before Günther grabbed seventh a few moments later with the final run of the sesison.[7] That left Mortara, Frijns, da Costa and Vergne as the drivers to progress to the Quarter Finals.[7]
Knockouts[]
The knockouts would start ten minutes after the conclusion of the group stage, with the first Quarter Final seeing de Vries take on Vergne, before di Grassi duelled with da Costa in the second DS Techeetah.[7] Quarter Final three would then see Frijns take on Rowland, while Mortara would battle would do battle with Lotterer for the final semi final spot to conclude the Quarter Finals.[7]
Quarter Finals[]
Vergne would lead de Vries out onto the circuit for the first quarter final of the day, and a huge opening sector for the #17 Mercedes would effectively settle the duel before it had begun, de Vries gaining a two tenth advantage that would grow to six tenths come the end of his lap.[7] That was followed by a controversial second QF, where di Grassi failed to leave the pitlane, blaming da Costa for failing to leave the pitlane when he should have done, the #13 DS Techeetah having been sent out first.[7] da Costa, seemingly on a by given di Grassi's lack of time, would go on to record two strong sectors, before backing off in the third to record a 1:08.681.[7]
Surprisingly, di Grassi was given permission to start his run, and would go on to punish da Costa for backing off in the final sector, grabbing a Semi final slot with a 1:07.216, all of that time coming in the final sector.[7] After a pause to resolve the fallout from that duel the third Quarter Final got underway, with Frijns controlling the duel against Rowland from the front, a measured 1:07.207 more than enough to beat Rowland's 1:07.780 as the #30 Mahindra seemed to be struggling with understeer.[7] The final Quarter Final then saw Mortara deliver an excellent second sector en-route to defeating Lotterer, the four tenths he gained over the Porsche in that sector proving enough to carry the #48 Venturi into the Semi Finals.[7]
Semi Finals[]
di Grassi was the first to go in the opening Semi-Final battle, although it would be advantage de Vries after the first sector, the #5 Mercedes seemingly on rails as he gained three tenths in that sector alone.[7] The second sector would see that advantage grow to half a second, di Grassi having to battle a nervous rear on the #11 ROKiT Venturi, before managing to take a tenth out of de Vries in the final sector.[7] Ultimately, however, that would not be enough as de Vries broke into the 1:06.000s, recording a 1:06.835 to di Grassi's 1:07.216.[7]
Semi-final two saw Frijns go first before Mortara, and understeer for the #4 Envision would instantly hand a one tenth advantage to Mortara through the firs two corners, who like de Vries seemed to have his Mercedes powered car on rails.[7] That advantage grew to three tenths come the end of the opening sector, before Frijns managed to match Mortara in the second sector, leaving the gap at three tenths.[7] Furthermore, Frijns would gain on Mortara in the third sector, but the tenth that he found would ultimately not be enough to deny Mortara a spot in the Final, the Swiss pilot recording a 1:06.987 to beat Frijns' 1:07.184.[7]
Final[]
Having just defeated Frijns it was Mortara who was the first to go in the final, and a nervous rear entering turn one would hand de Vries the initiative, the #17 Mercedes gaining a tenth over the customer Venturi-Mercedes in that corner.[7] de Vries then seemed to have the more nervous car in the second sector, fighting a slide through turn seven into eight, allowing Mortara to pace him and keep the gap at just 0.15s come the end of the second sector.[7] Mortara then delivered an excellent final sector to record a 1:07.159, and effort that de Vries just managed to best with a 1:07.154, his advantage having largely disappeared with a minor error entering the chicane.[7]
Post Qualifying[]
The final qualifying result for the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II are outlined below:
| 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II Qualifying Results | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Final | |||||||
| Heat | Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
| I | Win | 17 | Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes
|
1:07.154 | — | 1 |
| Lose | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:07.159 | +0.005s | 2 | |
| Semi-Finals | |||||||
| Heat | Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
| I | Win | 17 | Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes
|
1:06.835 | — | F |
| Lose | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:07.216 | +0.381s | 4 | |
| II | Win | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:06.987 | — | F |
| Lose | 4 | Robin Frijns
|
 Envision Racing
|
1:07.184 | +0.197s | 3 | |
| Quarter Finals | |||||||
| Heat | Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Grid |
| QF 1 | Win | 17 | Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes
|
1:06.871 | — | SF |
| Lose | 25 |  Jean-Éric Vergne
|
DS Techeetah
|
1:07.539 | +0.668s | 6 | |
| QF 2 | Win | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:07.580 | — | SF |
| Lose | 13 |  António Félix da Costa
|
DS Techeetah
|
1:08.681 | +1.101s | 7 | |
| QF 3 | Win | 4 | Robin Frijns
|
Envision Racing
|
1:07.207 | — | SF |
| Lose | 30 | Oliver Rowland*
|
 Mahindra Racing
|
1:07.780 | +0.573s | 10* | |
| QF 4 | Win | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:07.014 | — | SF |
| Lose | 36 | André Lotterer
|
Porsche Formula E Team
|
1:07.285 | +0.271s | 5 | |
| Group Stage | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Time | Gap | Grid | Group |
| 1st | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:07.724 | — | QF 4 | GB |
| 2nd | 4 | Robin Frijns
|
Envision Racing
|
1:07.757 | +0.033s | QF 3 | GB |
| 3rd | 13 | António Félix da Costa
|
DS Techeetah
|
1:07.806 | +0.082s | QF 2 | GB |
| 4th | 17 | Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes
|
1:07.939 | +0.215s | QF 1 | GA |
| 5th | 25 | Jean-Éric Vergne
|
DS Techeetah
|
1:07.968 | +0.244s | QF 1 | GB |
| 6th | 29 | Alexander Sims
|
Mahindra Racing
|
1:08.011 | +0.287s | 9 | GB |
| 7th | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
1:08.083 | +0.359s | QF 2 | GA |
| 8th | 30 | Oliver Rowland
|
Mahindra Racing
|
1:08.101 | +0.377s | QF 3 | GA |
| 9th | 36 | André Lotterer
|
Porsche Formula E Team
|
1:08.224 | +0.500s | QF 4 | GA |
| 10th | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne
|
Mercedes
|
1:08.257 | +0.533s | 12 | GB |
| 11th | 22 | Maximilian Günther
|
Nissan e.Dams
|
1:08.339 | +0.615s | 14 | GB |
| 12th | 9 |  Mitch Evans
|
Jaguar Racing
|
1:08.368 | +0.644s | 16 | GB |
| 13th | 27 | Jake Dennis
|
 Avalanche Andretti
|
1:08.419 | +0.695s | 8 | GA |
| 14th | 94 | Pascal Wehrlein
|
Porsche Formula E Team
|
1:08.454 | +0.730s | 11 | GA |
| 15th† | 7 | Sérgio Sette Câmara
|
Dragon/Penske Autosport
|
1:08.482 | +0.758s | 19† | GA |
| 16th | 28 | Oliver Askew
|
Avalanche Andretti
|
1:08.626 | +0.902s | 13 | GA |
| 17th | 33 | Dan Ticktum
|
 NIO 333 FE Team
|
1:08.753 | +1.029s | 18 | GB |
| 18th | 99 |  Antonio Giovinazzi
|
Dragon/Penske Autosport
|
1:08.811 | +1.087s | 20 | GB |
| 19th | 23 | Sébastien Buemi
|
Nissan e.Dams
|
1:08.829 | +1.105s | 15 | GA |
| 20th | 3 | Oliver Turvey
|
NIO 333 FE Team
|
1:08.943 | +1.219s | 17 | GA |
| 21st | 10 | Sam Bird
|
Jaguar Racing
|
1:13.910 | +6.186s | 21 | GB |
| NC‡ | 37 | Nick Cassidy
|
Envision Racing
|
— | 22‡ | GA | |
| Group A 110% Time: 1:14.732[8] | |||||||
| Group B 110% Time: 1:14.496[8] | |||||||
| Source:[8] | |||||||
- * Rowland served a three place grid penalty for causing a collision in the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix I.[9]
- † Sette Câmara had all of his times deleted for impeding Buemi during Group A's session.[10]
- ‡ Cassidy was given permission to start the race from the back of the grid after failing to set a time in qualifying after crashing in FP3.[11]
Race[]
Temperatures were dropping as the field gathered on the grid for the second and final race of the opening weekend, with night having already fallen over Diriyah after qualifying.[12] There were a couple of changes to the grid after penalties were applied, with Oliver Rowland taking a three place penalty for causing a collision in the opening race, while Sérgio Sette Câmara was sent to the back for impeding Sébastien Buemi during the race.[10] Otherwise there would be no other changes to the order, with Attack Mode set at two activations, lasting for four minutes, an increase of 60 seconds compared to the opening race.[4]
Report[]
The start of the race saw Nyck de Vries make a good getaway from pole to secure the lead, while Robin Frijns moved up to challenge Edoardo Mortara into the first corner from third.[12] Mortara held him off with the inside line for turn eighteen, which would allow Lucas di Grassi to have a look at passing the #4 Envision-Audi, before Frijns swatted that move aside.[12] Rowland, meanwhile, was shoved wide and into the escape road through turn eighteen, although the #30 Mahindra would succesfully rejoin ahead of António Félix da Costa, having gained three places off the grid.[12]
After that the opening tour proved fairly tame, the only change of position coming when Stoffel Vandoorne fired down the inside of Oliver Askew to claim eleventh into turn eighteen.[12] Out front, meanwhile, the top five would make an early bid for freedom, with de Vries, Mortara, Frijns, di Grassi and André Lotterer opening out a two second gap to Jean-Éric Vergne in sixth during the early stages.[12] Behind Vergne, Jake Dennis would relieve António Félix da Costa of eighth on lap two, before Pascal Wehrlein tried to lunge inside the #13 DS Techeetah, only for da Costa to snatch the position back through turn nineteen and almost allow Vandoorne to sneak ahead of the delayed #94 Porsche.[12]
That squabble allowed Rowland and Dennis to become the first drivers in the field to take AM without losing positions to da Costa and co. behind, with the Portuguese pilot relieved of ninth by Wehrlein in the same moment.[12] Vandoorne then sent an audacious lunge inside of da Costa into the final corner to grab tenth, in a move that would delay da Costa enough that Askew was able to draft past with ease on the run to turn one.[12] Dennis, meanwhile, would dive past Rowland for seventh on lap five, and would just miss out on jumping Vergne when the #25 Techeetah went through the activation zone in the same moment.[12]
With that the leaders began to arm AM, with Frijns and Lotterer the first of the lead quintet to do so on lap six, the Dutchman dropping behind di Grassi while Lotterer held fifth.[12] A lap later and the lead trio reacted, resulting in status quo as Frijns reclaimed third from di Grassi, while Lotterer fell just shy of beating the #11 ROKiT Venturi out of turn nineteen as di Grassi rejoined.[12] With that Lotterer began to fall off the back of the lead group, as behind the sister Porsche of Wehrlein was unable to keep an AM aided Vandoorne at bay in the fight for ninth, before the German pilot armed AM for himself to fall behind Askew.[12]
Wehrlein would go on to mug Askew of tenth a lap after taking the boost, forcing his way inside the #28 Avalanche Andretti at turn fourteen as Askew ran a little wide.[12] da Costa duly followed the #94 Porsche through past the American rookie to grab eleventh, before those two worked together to catch back up to Vandoorne, who was himself stalking Rowland in the #30 Mahindra.[12] Out front, meanwhile, de Vries was able to resist the attentions of Mortara and Frijns as the first round of AM boosts came to an end, withdi Grassi the first to go for his second AM boost on lap twelve.[12]
Frijns reacted to di Grassi's move on the following tour, but the Brazilian pilot would jump ahead of the #4 Envision with the undercut, grabbing a net third ahead of the Dutchman.[12] Mortara went next and duly dropped behind both di Grassi and Frijns, while de Vries surprisingly opted against taking AM, which would allow di Grassi to close right onto his tail.[12] On lap fifteen di Grassi duly threw the #11 Venturi around the outside of de Vries into turn eighteen, with the two making contact as they hit the brakes for the chicane.[12]
The light brush would cause de Vries to slide wide of the apex, pushing di Grassi wide, while behind a similar scenario was unfolding as Mortara attacked Frijns for third.[12] On the entry to turn nineteen de Vries would try to force the issue and hold on around the outside of the Venturi, although instead the #17 Mercedes would be elbowed wide by di Grassi as the Brazilian seized upon the racing line.[12] With that di Grassi was away in the lead, while behind Mortara would barge past Frijns to claim third, knocking the #4 Envision wide at turn nineteen, before trying and failing to squeeze inside de Vries into turn twenty.[12]
A lap later and Mortara was able to fire past de Vries unopposed into the chicane for second, the Swiss pilot using AM to do so, before going on to catch and pass teammate di Grassi for the lead on the following tour.[12] With that the two Venturis were off to build a lead, while de Vries initially managed to hold third from Frijns as the #4 Envision instead fell into the scrap for fifth between Vergne and Lotterer.[12] Indeed, having been passed by the #25 Techeetah Lotterer seemed to enjoy a rally, barging back ahead of Vergne at the chicane before firing the #36 Porsche around the outside of Frijns into the chicane on lap eighteen, bravely cutting across Frijns' nose as they turned in to grab fourth.[12]
Frijns repaid the favour on the following tour followed swiftly by Vergne, before inheriting fourth from de Vries as the Dutchman finally armed AM for the second and final time.[12] Frijns duly moved up to challenge di Grassi for second, before Mortara almost caught his teammate out by coming off the power very early into the chicane on lap 25, resulting in di Grassi trying a half-move around the outside into the chicane.[12] Mortara would have enough in hand to keep his teammate at bay, while Frijns tried to stick his nose down the inside of the #11 Venturi, but was also thwarted as di Grassi claimed the inside line for turn nineteen.[12]
That exchange allowed de Vries to move back onto the tail of Frijns, while Vergne, Lotterer, Dennis, Vandoorne and Rowland all pulled onto the #17 Mercedes' tail, setting up an eight car scrap for the lead.[12] That was, until Vergne fired the #25 Techeetah down the inside of de Vries at turn eighteen, only for de Vries to try a late block and move to the inside, causing him to lock up and run wide at the apex.[12] Vergne cut inside and was ahead on the outside of the entry to turn nineteen, with de Vries trying and failing to seize the racing line into the left-hander, instead smacking the side of Vergne's car.[12]
In response Vergne would push de Vries right onto the inside kerb of turn nineteen, with the pair still touching as they turned through the corner before Vergne powered away on the exit to grab fourth.[12] Lotterer and Dennis would then take advantage of the hobbled Mercedes to blast past on the exit, Dennis winning a drag to turn twenty, before Vandoorne slithered down the inside of his teammate to grab eighth in the final corner, followed by Rowland on the exit.[12] With that de Vries' hopes were over, the #17 Mercedes sliding into the sights of Wehrlein with suspected damaged steering, while a sizeable gap had opened up between Frijns in third and the now fourth placed Vergne.[12]
Without pressure from behind Frijns was able to go on the offensive, and duly scythed past di Grassi on the brakes for turn eighteen to grab second, while behind Vergne took AM for the final time and dropped behind Lotterer, Dennis and Vandoorne.[12] The Frenchman would go on to fire back ahead of Vandoorne a lap later to reclaim sixth, before closing and attacking Dennis into the chicane a lap later, only for the Brit to fend him off.[12] That, however, would prove to be the last action of the race, as the Safety Car was called out with seven minutes t go to allow Alexander Sims to be removed from turn eight.[12]
The Brit had lost control entering turn five while running on his own in twelfth, the back of his car stepping out and firing the Mahindra hard into the outside wall, before the Brit rolled down hill to a gap in the barriers with damaged right-rear suspension.[12] However, the marshals seemed unable to push the #29 Mahindra back into the gap Sims had found, instead deploying a movable crane to pick up Sims' car and move it to the escape road at turn nine.[12] That decision would seemingly catch everyone including Race Director Scott Elkins and SC driver Bruno Correia out, with the field having to come to a complete stop at turn six as the tractor trundled its way to the scene of the accident.[12]
Over the next seven minutes the #29 Mahindra was slowly removed from the circuit, at one point almost being dangled right over the racing line as the field rolled past behind the Safety Car.[12] Race director Elkins then opted to end the SC period at the end of the final lap, resulting in a two corner sprint to the chequered flag, albeit one with no overtaking as the rulebook dicated no one could overtake until they crossed the timing line (ie the finish line).[12] Regardless, Mortara won the race ahead of Frijns and di Grassi, Lotterer secured fourth ahead of Dennis and Vergne, Vandoorne earned the fastest lap bonus in eighth, while Rowland, Wehrlein and a frustrated de Vries rounded out the scorers.[12]
Result[]
The final classification of the 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold.
| 2022 Diriyah E-Prix II Race Result | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pos. | No. | Name | Team | Laps | Race Time | Fastest lap | Pts. |
| 1st | 48 | Edoardo Mortara
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
35 | 47:02.131 | 1:09.203 | 25 |
| 2nd | 4 | Robin Frijns
|
Envision Racing
|
35 | +0.451s | 1:09.172 | 18 |
| 3rd | 11 | Lucas di Grassi
|
ROKiT Venturi Racing
|
35 | +0.912s | 1:09.187 | 15 |
| 4th | 36 | André Lotterer
|
Porsche Formula E Team
|
35 | +1.125s | 1:09.504 | 12 |
| 5th | 27 | Jake Dennis
|
Avalanche Andretti
|
35 | +1.646s | 1:09.206 | 10 |
| 6th | 25 | Jean-Éric Vergne 
|
DS Techeetah
|
35 | +3.166s | 1:09.060 | 8 |
| 7th | 5 | Stoffel Vandoorne
|
Mercedes
|
35 | +3.568s | 1:08.917 | 7 |
| 8th | 30 | Oliver Rowland
|
Mahindra Racing
|
35 | +4.235s | 1:09.249 | 4 |
| 9th | 2 | Pascal Wehrlein
|
Porsche Formula E Team
|
35 | +4.962s | 1:09.355 | 2 |
| 10th | 17 | Nyck de Vries
|
Mercedes
|
35 | +5.294s | 1:09.216 | 4 |
| 11th | 28 | Oliver Askew
|
Avalanche Andretti
|
35 | +6.732s | 1:09.186 | |
| 12th | 13 | António Félix da Costa
|
DS Techeetah
|
35 | +8.693s | 1:09.457 | |
| 13th | 23 | Sébastien Buemi
|
Nissan e.Dams
|
35 | +9.015s | 1:09.388 | |
| 14th | 22 | Maximilian Günther
|
Nissan e.Dams
|
35 | +9.464s | 1:09.318 | |
| 15th | 10 | Sam Bird
|
Jaguar Racing
|
35 | +11.690s | 1:08.723 | |
| 16th | 37 | Nick Cassidy
|
Envision Racing
|
35 | +13.973s | 1:09.054 | |
| 17th | 7 | Sérgio Sette Câmara
|
Dragon/Penske Autosport
|
35 | +14.521s | 1:09.754 | |
| 18th | 3 | Oliver Turvey
|
NIO 333 FE Team
|
35 | +15.005s | 1:09.688 | |
| 19th | 33 | Dan Ticktum
|
NIO 333 FE Team
|
35 | +16.744s | 1:09.879 | |
| 20th | 99 | Antonio Giovinazzi
|
Dragon/Penske Autosport
|
35 | +17.681s | 1:09.842 | |
| 21st* | 9 | Mitch Evans
|
Jaguar Racing
|
35 | +29.872s | 1:09.665 | |
| Ret | 29 | Alexander Sims
|
Mahindra Racing
|
29 | Accident | 1:09.010 | |
| Source:[8] | |||||||
Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.[13]- * Evans was handed a drive through penalty, converted to a 24 second time penalty, for failing to deploy his second use of Attack Mode.[14]
Milestones[]
- 50th entry for Edoardo Mortara.
- Third career victory for Mortara.
- Third win for Venturi Formula E Team as an entrant.
- Mercedes secured their eighth win as a powertrain supplier.
- 10th podium finish for Robin Frijns.
Standings[]
Victory catapulted Edoardo Mortara into the lead of the Championship as the opening weekend of the season came to a conclusion, the Swiss ace having established a four point lead. Defending Champion Nyck de Vries had made way for Mortara and slipped to second, while Stoffel Vandoorne had dropped to third, a further point behind. Jake Dennis and Lucas di Grassi then rounded out the top five, level on 25 points, with fourteen of the twenty-two permanent drivers having scored in the opening two races.
ROKiT Venturi Racing had moved into the lead of the Teams' Championship after their double podium in the second battle of Diriyah, although their new lead was just a single point. Indeed, defending Champions Mercedes, and Venturi's suppliers, had dropped behind their customer squad, while both had moved 30 points clear of Avalanche Andretti in third. Envision Racing were next up ahead of Porsche Formula E Team, while Jaguar Racing, DS Techeetah and Mahindra Racing were the other scorers.
|
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Only point scoring drivers are shown.
References[]
Videos and Images:
References:
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 'SEASON 8 CALENDAR: Cape Town, Vancouver and Seoul feature on most expansive Formula E schedule yet', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 08/07/2021), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2021/july/season-8-calendar-announcement, (Accessed 08/07/2021)
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 'MORTARA CAPS STORMING RACE FOR VENTURI WITH WIN IN DIRIYAH E-PRIX ROUND 2', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2022/january/diriyah-round-2-report, (Accessed 08/02/2022)
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 'DE VRIES SECURES POLE BY THE SLIMMEST OF MARGINS FOR ROUND 2 IN DIRIYAH', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2022/january/diriyah-qualifying-round-2-report, (Accessed 08/02/2022)
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022: Attack Mode - Round 2', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 08/02/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 08/02/2022) Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; name "AMA" defined multiple times with different content - ↑ Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedEL - ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 'Updated calendar, faster racing and knockout qualifying for Season 8', fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 15/10/2021), https://www.fiaformulae.com/en/news/2021/october/season-8-sporting-update, (Accessed 16/10/2021)
- ↑ 7.00 7.01 7.02 7.03 7.04 7.05 7.06 7.07 7.08 7.09 7.10 7.11 7.12 7.13 7.14 7.15 7.16 7.17 7.18 7.19 7.20 7.21 7.22 7.23 7.24 7.25 7.26 7.27 7.28 7.29 7.30 7.31 7.32 7.33 7.34 7.35 7.36 7.37 7.38 7.39 7.40 7.41 7.42 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedQH - ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedResults - ↑ 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022 - Decision No. 8', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 28/01/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 05/02/2022)
- ↑ 10.0 10.1 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022: Decision No. 14', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 08/02/2022)
- ↑ 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022: Decision No. 11', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 08/02/2022)
- ↑ 12.00 12.01 12.02 12.03 12.04 12.05 12.06 12.07 12.08 12.09 12.10 12.11 12.12 12.13 12.14 12.15 12.16 12.17 12.18 12.19 12.20 12.21 12.22 12.23 12.24 12.25 12.26 12.27 12.28 12.29 12.30 12.31 12.32 12.33 12.34 12.35 12.36 12.37 12.38 12.39 12.40 12.41 12.42 Cite error: Invalid
<ref>tag; no text was provided for refs namedRH - ↑ 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022: Fan Boost - Round 2', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 08/02/2022)
- ↑ 'ROUND 1 & 2 - DIRIYAH E-PRIX 27 - 29 JANUARY 2022: Decision No. 16', results.fiaformulae.com, (FIA Formula E, 29/01/2022), https://results.fiaformulae.com/en/noticeboard, (Accessed 08/02/2022)