Crazy race for round 12 in Jakarta, with a lot of track action and a race for the outsider. Discover everything that happened and how Dan Ticktum took his first ever victory in Formula E.
The poleman Jake Dennis takes a great start and maintains his lead. Behind him, Nyck de Vries closes the door on Taylor Barnard, with a better start from the Dutchman, and takes second place. The championship leader, Oliver Rowland, who was in sixteenth, is up two places on the first lap. Jean-Eric Vergne is the first driver to use his attack mod. He will not benefit from it, as he picked up damage on his front wing after trying to overtake Mitch Evans and has to pit. With a lot of dust on the track, taking the attack mod line is tricky and slippery. It almost caught Zane Maloney off guard.
Complicated day for DS Penske and Rowland
The second DS Penske driver, Maximilian Günther, has an issue with his car after a contact with the wall after Rowland tried to overtake him. He has to retire his car. With this incident, the Nissan driver takes a 5-seconds penalty. Vergne comes back on track on lap 12. The dark day continues for Oliver Rowland as he experiences an engine issue. Sam Bird tries to take his attack mod but doesn’t drive on the racing line for it. He has to do it again, losing a lot of time with that mistake.
Crucial strategy with attack mod
Top 5 to top 9 drivers all use their attack mod at the same time. To try and keep his podium, Taylor Barnard also uses his attack mod a lap later but finds himself in the pack of the previous ones. On lap 20, both Dennis and de Vries take their attack mod. They both manage to pass the leader of the race, Mortara. Barnard tries to overtake out of the racing line, which is a mistake as he loses his car and goes from third to ninth.
Jake Dennis and Nyck de Vries made contact as the Mahindra driver drove into the Andretti driver’s front wing and completely destroyed it. The safety car is called to pick out the debris. The green flag is waved once again, and Nick Cassidy attacks Da Costa, but the Porsche driver keeps the lead. Rowland and Wehrlein made contact for the tenth place, which gave an advantage to Barnard behind.
Chaos strikes at the end of the race
For his move on Jake Dennis, Nyck de Vries takes a 10-seconds penalty. Zane Maloney takes a drive through for overpowering during release. Jake Hughes stops on track, so the race director calls a full course yellow. The second Maserati driver, Stoffel Vandoorne, touches the wall, probably losing the brakes. At the same time, de Vries has an issue with his car and stops. The second full course yellow is called. With everything going on on track, Dan Ticktum takes the lead of the race, followed by Edoardo Mortara and Sébastien Buemi. The Cupra Kiro driver keeps his lead as the green flag is waved, with a menacing Mortara behind him. Nico Mueller and Sébastien Buemi fight on the last lap for the podium, but the Envision driver keeps the lead.
Dan Ticktum takes his first victory in Formula E, and it’s also the first win for Cupra Kiro. Being the smallest team in the series, the emotion is palpable in the garage. Tears of joy and screams are part of it.
With his penalty, Oliver Rowland still manages to be in the top 10 and take a point. On the other hand, it’s good to note that with a MCU change exceeding the limit, Nick Cassidy will take a 20-place grid penalty for Berlin.
Editor’s Note:
Since this article was first published, Sébastien Buemi has been reinstated as the third-place finisher in the Jakarta E-Prix following a successful appeal by Envision Racing. The five-second penalty for contact with Edoardo Mortara was overturned after new onboard footage was reviewed by the stewards. This change affects the official race classification and championship standings.