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Nick Cassidy made ten overtakes around the streets of Monaco to power through to a stunning victory.
Nick Cassidy made ten overtakes to take the victory at the Monaco E-Prix. Image Credit: Alliance Getty ImagesNick Cassidy had a fairytale day in Monaco. He made ten overtakes, took the victory, took the lead of the championship and got driver of the day. What a Saturday for the Envision racer. He had a slow start to the season but is emerging as the dominant driver for the second half of the season.
The rest of the podium was made up of Mitch Evans and Jake Dennis, the latter who is slowly making his way back into the championship fight.
The Monaco E-Prix started with Hughes on Pole. Fenestraz’s lap was deleted as he was found to be exceeding his power usage.
The first lap was pretty much ‘same old Monaco’ with no overtakes and Hughes maintaining his lead but by the second lap, everyone got their elbows out. Oliver Rowland in his Mahindra was making moves through the field. Having started in 13th, by lap three he was in sixth.
Yellow flags were waved after Lotterer had a big shunt and had to pull off to a side road but the racing continued. By the end of lap 3, the top 5 were Hughes, Fenestraz, Nato, Ticktum and Günther.
Laps 4-10
By Lap 4, Hughes was holding the lead very confidently. Oliver Rowland, the most notable mover, fell down the order to tenth as he went through attack mode.
On Lap 5, Cassidy made a multi-car overtake at the hairpin which moved him up to sixth. At this stage of the race, Cassidy and Rowland were the most notable drivers, however, Dan Ticktum was looking racy and wanting to get past Norman Nato.
On Lap 6, Nick Cassidy went around the outside of Ticktum and then down the start/ finish straight, he squeezed past Norman Nato by diving into the first corner. Cassidy made it up into the top three.
On Lap 7, Jake Hughes activated attack mode and Fenestraz followed a lap later and managed to effectively jump Hughes by coming back on the racing line ahead of the McLaren driver.
Dan Ticktum took the lead of the race as Cassidy and Nato took Attack Modes, however, this didn’t last for long as Evans took the lead.
Laps 11- 20
The typical Formula E changing of the lead swiftly followed as Cassidy took the lead on Lap 11.
Incredibly, Jake Dennis joined the party as he got up to third place by Lap 12 and only dropped back one place when taking Attack Mode.
Evans took the lead once more as the top 4 of Evans, Cassidy, Fenestraz and Dennis seemed to solidify their place in the front pack. Dennis then made it past Fenestraz on the exit of Turn 1 on lap 14 and took the final provisional podium spot.
Halfway through the race, Evans took his final attack mode and Cassidy did incredibly well to keep back a charging Jaguar. Unfortunately, Oliver Rowland, who had a cracking start to his race, fell further back down the order to 20th.
Mitch Evans took the lead back onto Lap 16. A real battle between Evans, Cassidy and Dennis appeared. Two laps later, Cassidy re-took the lead.
Further down the pack, the championship hopeful, Pascal Wehrlein, was struggling in 11th place.
Cassidy, Evans and Dennis all battled for the lead and nearly went three abreast around Mirabeau. The order of the top 5 by the end of Lap 19 was Cassidy, Evans, Dennis, Fenestraz and Ticktum.
Laps 21- 27
On Lap 21 Mitch Evans was told by his race engineer it’s time to try and get past Cassidy for the lead.
“It’s go time”
Dennis was still holding back and hanging around in third whilst the two at the front were battling.
On lap 22 Norman Nato’s race ended on the start/finish straight after being hit by Ticktum at Rascasse. Whereas Maximillian Günther had massive contact with Ticktum up Beau Rivage and stopped later on the track.
The safety car came out on Lap 22 and lasted until Lap 24.
Cassidy was in charge of the restart and jumped relatively early before lap 25 and Mitch Evans managed to hang on well. Jake Hughes had made up places after falling back earlier and was in the Top five once again.
Quietly, Jean-Eric Vergne made his way up the field from last place and was in seventh place with four laps to go. On Lap 26 Werhlein tried to make a move on Vandoorne and it was getting risky throughout the lap.
Shockingly, Sam Bird went through the Attack Mode sequence, or so he thought… Bird missed his marks and got out of place for no added benefit.
The Safety Car was not long enough to add laps and it was confirmed, with three laps to go, that the total of laps would be 29.
The Last Three laps
With two and a half laps to go, it became apparent that it would be a battle between the Kiwis. It seemed that Cassidy was dropping Evans.
With two laps to go, Dennis had done the fastest lap of the race. On Lap 28 a yellow flag came out for Nico Müller and the safety car was deployed for the last lap. The incident looked intense as Sam Bird went into the ABT Cupra and Müller was sent into the barriers.
The Final Results
- Cassidy
- Evans
- Dennis
- Fenestraz
- Hughes
- Ticktum
- Vergne
- Buemi
- Vandoorne
- Bird
- Wehrlein
- Mortara
- Di Grassi
- Frijns
- Sette Camara
- Da Costa
- Rast
- Nato
DNF
Müller
Gunther
Rowland
Lotterer
Feature Image Credit: FIAFormulaE.com
