2022 Seoul E-Prix II

2022 Seoul E-Prix II
The Seoul E-Prix finally made its FE debut in 2022.
Race Information
Date	14 August 2022
E-Prix No.	100 (16 of 2021/22)
Official Name	2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix II
Location	Seoul Street Circuit Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea
Format	45 min + 1 Lap
Lap length	2.621 km (1.628 mi)
Distance	34 laps / 89.486 km (55.604 mi)
Support Race
Qualifying Result
Pole Sitter	António Félix da Costa
Team	DS Techeetah
Time	1:21.078
Fastest Lap
Driver	Nick Cassidy
Team	Envision Racing
Fastest Lap	1:22.401 on lap 24
ePrix Result
First	Second	Third
Edoardo Mortara	Stoffel Vandoorne	Jake Dennis
Winner Team	ROKiT Venturi Racing
Time	53:31.680
ePrix Guide
Previous		Next
2022 Seoul E-Prix I		2023 Mexico City E-Prix
Post-Race Test

The 2022 Seoul E-Prix II, officially known as the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix II, was the sixteenth and final race of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, staged on the Seoul Street Circuit in the Jamsil Sports Complex, Seoul, South Korea. The race marked an important milestone in FE's history, serving as the 100th E-Prix and the final race of the Generation 2 era, and would see Stoffel Vandoorne and Mitch Evans duel for the title.

Heading into the final round of the season it would be Vandoorne who had the advantage in the Championship, leading Evans by 21 points with 29 available on the final day. In the Teams' Championship, meanwhile, it was the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team who entered the final day as the leaders, the German squad holding a 31 point lead over Monegasque customers ROKiT Venturi Racing.

Into qualifying and it was António Félix da Costa who swept to pole position and the three bonus points, the Portuguese ace defeating Edoardo Mortara by over a quarter of a second after acing the final sector of his run. In order to claim pole da Costa would also defeat Robin Frijns and Jake Dennis, while Mortara defeated Dan Ticktum and then Champion-elect Vandoorne en-route to the final. Vandoorne would hence start the finale from fourth place, while rival Evans, who had to win the race now the bonus points for pole had gone, would start down in thirteenth after whacking the wall in the group stage.

The dry conditions continued into the afternoon in Seoul, and hence would allow da Costa to catapult off the grid cleanly to grab the lead, while Mortara elbowed Dennis away in the first corner to hold second. Behind Maximilian Günther would cause chaos by twice trying to lunge down the inside of Lucas di Grassi for sixth place, once into the first corner and then again into turn one, with the latter attempt resulting in a delay for the rest of the field and allowing the top five to escape.

Evans would avoid trouble in that incident and instead moved up to tenth behind Jean-Éric Vergne but was in the delayed group of cars behind Günther, while Ticktum managed to catch back up to the leaders, only to retire with an issue just as he did so. Mortara, meanwhile, would pull out one of the moves of the season to grab the lead from da Costa, selling the Portuguese ace a dummy into the final corner before squeezing down the inside of the #13 DS Techeetah to grab the lead, while Dennis got a better exit from the final corner and duly fired past for second.

With that the Attack Mode phase began with Pascal Wehrlein the first to arm the boost, although his run into the points would be curtailed by contact with Nyck de Vries that left both cars with race ending damage. Mortara, meanwhile, would pull away to establish a daunting lead with Dennis in tow, while Evans remained stuck behind Vergne who was himself unable to find a way past di Grassi and Oliver Askew ahead.

Günther's race came to an end at half distance, the damage from various battles taking its final toll on the #22 Nissan e.Dams and causing him to stop on the back straight. A Safety Car was duly deployed to allow both Günther and Wehrlein's cars to be recovered and various bits of debris to be removed from the circuit, with the race resuming just under seven minutes later.

The restart effectively settled the race out front, with Mortara darting away to establish another big lead, while da Costa harassed Dennis for second, only for that battle to end with Dennis inadvertently pushing da Costa into a nose against the barriers at the final corner. da Costa ended up at the back of the field while Dennis was penalised for pushing the #13 DS Techeetah out of contention, resulting in Dennis pushing for the rest of the race to try and build a gap to those behind in order to remain on the podium.

Indeed, the final race of the season would end rather tamely, with Mortara easing to a dominant victory to close out the season, while Vandoorne was promoted to second after Dennis served his penalty to secure his maiden World Championship title. Dennis did enough to retain third ahead of Frijns and Askew, while Vergne kept Evans behind him throughout to claim sixth ahead of Championship runner-up. Nick Cassidy then claimed the bonus point for fastest lap in eighth ahead of Sébastien Buemi, while da Costa recovered to secure the final point of the Gen 2 era in tenth ahead of di Grassi.

Background

There were no changes to the Seoul Street Circuit ahead of the second and final race of the weekend, with the weather also improving for final race of the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, which would also serve as the final race for the Generation 2 era. There would, however, be a change to the entry list, after Antonio Giovinazzi sustained a hand injury during the 2022 Seoul E-Prix I, and hence was ruled out of racing in what was expected to be his final E-Prix. His replacement would be in the form of Jaguar reserve Sacha Fenestraz, who would be making his FE race debut at the wheel of the #99 Dragon/Penske, having reportedly signed a deal to race for Nissan in 2022/23.

Vandoorne on the Verge

Stoffel Vandoorne had failed to secure the Championship at the first time of asking in the first Seoul E-Prix, although the Belgian pilot remained the overwhelming favourite heading into the final day of the season. Indeed, only a victory with Vandoorne retiring would realistically hand Mitch Evans the title, while sixth, regardless of what Evans did, would be enough for Vandoorne to claim the crown. Evans could also win the Championship with Vandoorne failing to score and him finishing in second with pole position, which would leave the New Zealander as the Champion on countback by holding four wins to Vandoorne's two.

Like their lead driver it was Mercedes' title to lose in the Teams' Championship ahead of the final race of the season, the German manufacturer's factory team holding a 31 point lead over their closest challengers. Indeed, only their customers ROKiT Venturi Racing could overhaul them on the final day, and would require a double podium, and likely need see their sister team fail to score at all, in order to secure the title for themselves. DS Techeetah could theoretically tie with Mercedes on 301 points with a maximum score on the final day, but the title would still head to Mercedes on countback, as they would hold three victories to DS Techeetah's theoretical two.

Entry List

The full entry list for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix II is displayed below:

2022 Seoul E-Prix II Entry List
No.	Name	Entrant	Constructor	Car
3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	333 FE 001
4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	Audi	e-tron FE07
5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	Penske	EV-5
9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type V
10	Norman Nato	Jaguar TCS Racing	Jaguar	I-Type V
11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 21
17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM03
23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	Nissan	IM03
25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	DS	E-Tense FE 21
27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	BMW	iFE.21
28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti Formula E	BMW	iFE.21
29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M7Electro
30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	Mahindra	M7Electro
33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	NIO	333 FE 001
36	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	Audi	e-tron FE07
48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	Mercedes-Benz	EQ Silver Arrow 02
94	Pascal Wehrlein	TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team	Porsche	99X Electric
99	Sacha Fenestraz	Dragon/Penske Autosport	Penske	EV-5
Source:

Qualifying

Qualifying for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix II would be conducted according to the knockout format, introduced ahead of season eight. 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. 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.

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. 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.

Post Qualifying

The final qualifying result for the 2022 Seoul E-Prix II are outlined below:

2022 Seoul E-Prix II Qualifying Results
Final
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	1:21.078	—	1
	Lose	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:21.342	+0.264s	2
Semi-Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
I	Win	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:20.913	—	F
	Lose	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:21.069	+0.156s	4
II	Win	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	1:20.925	—	F
	Lose	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:21.050	+0.125s	3
Quarter Finals
Heat	Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid
QF 1	Win	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:21.229	—	SF
	Lose	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	1:21.611	+0.382s	7
QF 2	Win	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:21.260	—	SF
	Lose	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	1:22.642	+1.382s	8
QF 3	Win	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	1:20.920	—	SF
	Lose	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:21.194	+0.274s	5
QF 4	Win	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:21.035	—	SF
	Lose	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:21.209	+0.174s	6

Group Stage
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Time	Gap	Grid	Group
1st	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	1:21.673	—	QF 4	GB
2nd	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	1:21.718	+0.045s	QF 3	GB
3rd	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	1:21.767	+0.094s	QF 2	GB
4th	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:21.770	+0.097s	QF 1	GA
5th	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	1:21.801	+0.128s	QF 1	GB
6th	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	1:21.811	+0.138s	QF 2	GA
7th	22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	1:21.825	+0.152s	9	GB
8th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	1:21.834	+0.161s	QF 3	GA
9th	28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti	1:21.877	+0.204s	11	GB
10th	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	1:21.895	+0.222s	QF 4	GA
11th	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:21.989	+0.316s	10	GA
12th	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	1:22.094	+0.421s	13	GB
13th	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	1:22.114	+0.441s	15	GB
14th	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	1:22.148	+0.475s	12	GA
15th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	1:22.232	+0.559s	14	GA
16th	36	André Lotterer	Porsche Formula E Team	1:22.254	+0.581s	17	GB
17th	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar Racing	1:22.286	+0.613s	16	GA
18th	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	1:22.299	+0.626s	19	GB
19th	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	1:22.323	+0.650s	18	GA
20th	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	1:22.363	+0.690s	20	GA
21st*	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1:23.079	+1.406s	22*	GA
22nd	99	Sacha Fenestraz	Dragon/Penske Autosport	1:23.432	+1.759s	21	GB
Group A 110% Time: 1:29.947
Group B 110% Time: 1:29.840
Source:

• * Sims served a 60 place grid penalty (converted to a stop-go penalty) for changing multiple components.

Race

Result

The final classification of the 2022 Seoul E-Prix II is displayed below, with the fastest lap setter indicated in italics, and the pole sitter shown in bold:

2022 Seoul E-Prix II Race Result
Pos.	No.	Name	Team	Laps	Race Time	Fastest lap	Pts.
1st	48	Edoardo Mortara	ROKiT Venturi Racing	34	53:31.680	1:22.767	25
2nd	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	34	+3.756s	1:23.009	18
3rd*	27	Jake Dennis	Avalanche Andretti	34	+6.649s	1:22.842	15
4th	4	Robin Frijns	Envision Racing	34	+7.021s	1:22.922	12
5th	28	Oliver Askew	Avalanche Andretti	34	+7.850s	1:22.962	10
6th	25	Jean-Éric Vergne	DS Techeetah	34	+9.471s	1:23.043	8
7th	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	34	+10.243s	1:23.340	6
8th	37	Nick Cassidy	Envision Racing	34	+10.243s	1:22.401	5
9th	23	Sébastien Buemi	Nissan e.Dams	34	+16.629s	1:23.468	2
10th	13	António Félix da Costa	DS Techeetah	34	+22.226s	1:23.173	4
11th	11	Lucas di Grassi	ROKiT Venturi Racing	34	+24.546s	1:23.568
12th	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	34	+26.513s	1:23.460
13th†	7	Sérgio Sette Câmara	Dragon/Penske Autosport	34	+27.813s	1:24.056
14th	10	Norman Nato	Jaguar Racing	34	+31.526s	1:24.137
15th‡	3	Oliver Turvey	NIO 333 FE Team	34	+31.565s	1:23.584
16th	99	Sacha Fenestraz	Dragon/Penske Autosport	34	+36.270s	1:24.381
Ret	22	Maximilian Günther	Nissan e.Dams	12	Damage	1:23.929
Ret§	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	7	Damage	1:24.141
Ret	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Formula E Team	6	Collision	1:24.538
Ret	33	Dan Ticktum	NIO 333 FE Team	2	Damage	1:25.935
Ret	30	Oliver Rowland	Mahindra Racing	0	Damage	—
Retƒ	36	André Lotterer	Porsche Formula E Team	0	Damage	—
Source:

• Indicates a driver was awarded FanBoost during the race.
• * Dennis served a five second time penalty for causing a collision with da Costa.
• ^† Sette Câmara served a five second time penalty for multiple changes of direction when defending.
• ^‡ Turvey served a five second time penalty for .
• ^§ de Vries was awarded a five second time penalty for causing a collision with Wehrlein. The penalty made no difference as he retired from the race.
• ^ƒ Lotterer was handed drive through penalty (converted to a 18 second time penalty) for . The penalty made no difference as he retired from the race.

Milestones

• Stoffel Vandoorne declared as the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Champion.
• Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team declared as the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship for Teams Champions.
  • This was their second and final FE title and second in a row.
• 100th E-Prix to be staged.
  • Also the 55th and final race of the Generation 2 era.
• Final race for Michelin as the Series' official tyre supplier.
• Lucas di Grassi made his 100th start.
• 100th and final race for e.Dams and the Venturi Formula E Team as entrants in the FIA Formula E World Championship.
• 100th race for Andretti Formula E, Dragon Racing, Envision Racing, Mahindra Racing and NIO as entrants in the series.
• 79th and final race for Penske as a manufacturer.
• Audi made their 67th and final appearance as a powertrain supplier.
• BMW entered their 55th and final race as a powertrain supplier.
• 42nd and final race for Mercedes-Benz as a powertrain supplier.
  • Also the 42nd and final race for the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team as an entrant.
• Sacha Fenestraz made his FIA Formula E debut.
• Edoardo Mortara claimed his sixth victory.
• The Venturi Formula E Team scored their sixth victory.
  • Mercedes earned their fourteenth and final victory as a powertrain supplier.

Standings

Second place would be more than enough for Stoffel Vandoorne to be declared the 2021/22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Champion, the Belgian's final tally coming to 213 points after sixteen races. Mitch Evans would finish as runner-up, 33 points behind come the end of the campaign, while Edoardo Mortara earned third placed on 169 points, and level with Evans in terms of most wins during the season (4). Jean-Éric Vergne and Lucas di Grassi then rounded out the top five, di Grassi ahead of Jake Dennis and Robin Frijns on countback, with twenty-one of the twenty-four drivers to have entered E-Prix in 2021/22 having scored during the season.

In the Teams' Championship the Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team would sign-off from FE as double FE Teams Champions with their second title in a row in 2021/22, Mercedes' factory squad having claimed 319 points during the season. Their customers ROKiT Venturi Racing ended the season as runners-up on 295, while DS Techeetah ended their partnership in third on 266. Jaguar Racing and Envision Racing then completed the top five, while Dragon/Penske Autosport ended the season with just two points at the foot of the table.

2021/22 Drivers Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Stoffel Vandoorne 213 ◄0 2nd Mitch Evans 180 ◄0 3rd Edoardo Mortara 169 ◄0 4th Jean-Éric Vergne 144 ◄0 5th Lucas di Grassi 126 ◄0 6th Jake Dennis 126 ▲2 7th Robin Frijns 126 ◄0 8th António Félix da Costa 122 ▼2 9th Nyck de Vries 106 ◄0 10th Pascal Wehrlein 71 ◄0 11th Nick Cassidy 68 ◄0 12th André Lotterer 63 ◄0 13th Sam Bird 51 ◄0 14th Oliver Rowland 32 ◄0 15th Sébastien Buemi 30 ◄0 16th Oliver Askew 24 ▲1 17th Alexander Sims 14 ▼1 18th Oliver Turvey 6 ◄0 19th Maximilian Günther 6 ◄0 20th Sérgio Sette Câmara 2 ◄0 21st Dan Ticktum 1 ◄0 22nd Norman Nato 0 ◄0 23rd Antonio Giovinazzi 0 ◄0 24th Sacha Fenestraz 0 ◄0

2021/22 Teams Championship Pos. Name Pts. +/- 1st Mercedes 319 ◄0 2nd ROKiT Venturi Racing 295 ◄0 3rd DS Techeetah 266 ◄0 4th Jaguar Racing 231 ◄0 5th Envision Racing 194 ◄0 6th Avalanche Andretti 150 ▲1 7th Porsche Formula E Team 134 ▼1 8th Mahindra Racing 46 ◄0 9th Nissan e.Dams 36 ◄0 10th NIO 333 FE Team 7 ◄0 11th Dragon/Penske Autosport 2 ◄0

References

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