Pascal Werhlein storms through the field from P9 to win race 1 of the 2023 Diriyah E-Prix. The German secured his second career win as Dennis’ lead in the championship closes to just one point.
As the cars lined up on the starting grid, it was Sébastien Buemi at the head of the field with Maserati MSG driver Max Gunther ruled out of the race after a heavy qualifying crash, whilst the ABT Cupra team managed a mammoth job to fix the #51 car of Nico Müeller after his crash in free practice 2.
A fast starting Mitch Evans lunged into turn one, locking up and taking Rast into the run off area with him. Nudging elbows and swapping paint, the two managed to keep running and when rejoining the track forced the two Mahindras of Rowland and Di Grassi wide. This created a bottleneck, with the drivers behind going much faster than those ahead – Antonio Felix Da Costa runs into the back of Rowland and into the barriers at turn 2 as the safety car came out.
Buemi holds the lead of the E-Prix, ahead of Hughes, Bird, Ticktum and Rast in the top 5. Jake Dennis finds himself in the top 10 after the lap 1 carnage and the safety car returns to the pits after only one lap. Debutant Kelvin Van Der Linde leads his teammate and sits P17 at the restart.
DS Penske driver and reigning champion Stoffel Vandoorne pulled off a monster move to go around the outside of both Nissans into turn 21, putting himself into P14.
Hughes held onto second place until a lap 4 lunge from Bird saw him steal the position away from the rookie. After dispatching of the Mclaren Bird set his sights onto the leader Buemi, chasing him down and almost nudging him along. It became a question of when Bird would make his move on Buemi, not if. On lap 7 Bird pulled out from the slipstream of Buemi, claiming the inside of turn 1 and taking the lead of the Diriyah E-Prix.
Ticktum and Rast remained in P4 and 5 respectively, clinging to the back of Hughes and defending from those behind. The battle for the last place on the podium was tight between a group stretching from Hughes down to Evans in P7. After a lockup into turn 1, Wehrlein swoops around Rast to take P5 as Hughes battles with Buemi over second.
The first round of attack mode activations mix up the bottom half of the field, setting off a chain reaction for the leaders to react. Ticktum loses 2 places after taking his first attack mode, getting stuck behind those ahead unable to make a move.
Evans locks up into turn 1, running deep into the corner and losing a handful of places as he is given a 5 second penalty for an incident at turn 18 earlier in the race. Nissan rookie Fenestraz brushes the wall and breaks his wing whilst taking attack mode. The Diriyah circuit proves it punishes mistakes.
Jake Dennis quietly but carefully moved his way up the field, starting the race in P12 and finding himself in 6th by the halfway point.
During the attack mode commotion, Hughes dropped behind his teammate Rast and landed in P5 whilst Pascal Wehrlein jumped ahead of the two to take P3. Similarly, Ticktum went from P4 to P12, sinking down the field in disappointing fashion.
Sam Bird held a solid lead from Buemi who hadn’t taken any attack mode by lap 22/39. Wehrlein was tucked closely behind Buemi, biding his time until the Envision racer took attack mode and moved aside.
In the meanwhile, championship leader Jake Dennis was hot on the heels of both Mclarens with extra energy in his pocket.
Buemi took his attack mode on lap 24, moving aside and allowing Wehrlein to close up on leader Sam Bird. Buemi managed to stay ahead of the Mclaren-Dennis battle and hold onto P3 for the time being.
The top two fought for first position closely, each one slightly outbreaking the limits of the car and pushing each other further and further. Pascal Wehrlein snatched P1 from Sam Bird on lap 30/39 of the Diriyah E-Prix.
Jake Dennis managed to sneak past the Envision of Buemi and the Mclarens of Rast and Hughes, quietly stealing P3 behind Bird and chasing him down with an energy advantage. The Porsche driver of Wehrlein scattered into the distance, leaving Bird and Dennis to fight for second place.
The Avalanche Andretti team were facing issues with Dennis’ radio, leaving him unable to communicate with the pit wall in the midst of a crucial battle. Despite this, Dennis made his move on Bird, passing him into turn 1 and snatching P2 from his fellow countryman.
In the closing stages of the race, Wehrlein was forced to defend from a flying Dennis behind him. The German driver placed his car in all the right places, preserving his lead and taking the win of race 1 in Diriyah.
