Porsche once again found itself in the points paying positions in this weekend’s Formula E double-header in London. As the season winds down to a close, Porsche is pretty solidly finding a grip on its all-electric racing machines, and the race format leads to extremely close and competitive events. It would be nice to see Porsche repeat its Mexico E-Prix victory again at the final round in Seoul, but for now steady points are the goal.
Round 13, Saturday:
As seems to be the case lately, if one Porsche is doing well, the other is suffering. During qualifying for Saturday’s E-Prix, Andre Lotterer pushed his 99X Electric racing machine up into the duels and managed to secure an 8th place starting position for the grid, but teammate Pascal Wehrlein fumbled the ball in qualifying, doing no better than 18th.
During the race, meanwhile, the opposite was true. Lotterer dropped like a stone after the race went green, while Wehrlein pushed hard on a tear through the field to finish in the points paying places. Lotterer’s promising qualifying was for naught when he ended the race in 12th, while Wehrlein shoved his way through the race up into 10th to get a single point.
Comments on the London E-Prix, Race 13
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E: “Our qualifying performance with André in the duels was good. And at first, everything went well in the race but he didn’t have the pace to really defend himself. As a result, we lost time and positions. Pascal had to start from P18 and struggled initially but then he drove a strong race. However, most of the time we were too late with our overtaking manoeuvres. That cost us time. We definitely need to start further up the grid tomorrow.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#94): “We got the most out of today. I couldn’t do more from my P18 spot on the grid. During the qualifying, I experienced problems with the balance. We tweaked a few things for the race and that worked well. At least I managed to make up eight places. So from that perspective, it was a good race, but obviously, it wasn’t quite what we’d hoped for.”
André Lotterer, Porsche works driver (#36): “That was a tough race. It wasn’t too bad at first but then I fell behind. I was blocked in a couple of duels and I missed one of the Attack Modes. This cost time, which meant I couldn’t progress through the field. We didn’t have the pace today compared to the competition. We’re not too bad over one lap, but we’re not fast enough over the distance. Now let’s see what we can improve on for Sunday’s race.”
Round 14, Sunday:
Despite Sunday’s event being a very different race from both of the Porsche drivers, the result ended up being exactly the same. A mistake in qualifying sent Andre Lotterer to the very back of the grid to start 21st on the last row. During the race he managed to fight his way through the field to pass a massive nine cars, finishing 12th and just out of the points. Meanwhile teammate Wehrlein started the race from 12th on the grid and fought up to as high as eighth on the road, but was forced to settle for 10th at the checkered flag. 10th and 12th, exactly the same result as Saturday.
Comments on the London E-Prix, Race 14
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E: “In qualifying, Pascal narrowly missed out on getting into the duels. André made a mistake and had to start among the backmarkers. He then made up nine places in the race. That was a strong effort. Pascal also improved his position during the race. In the fight for P6, he became entangled in a duel that damaged his car. As a result, he couldn’t progress further up the field. We’re now focussing on the final races in Seoul. The track there is new terrain for us all. As always, we’ll prepare well and hope for a successful conclusion to the season.”
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#94): “That was a tough race. You could clearly see our weak points on this racetrack. It wasn’t easy for us to overtake, and that impacted our entire race. We have to improve in certain areas, then we’ll possibly see better results again. We couldn’t do more this weekend, but we know what we need to improve on for the future.”
André Lotterer, Porsche works driver (#36): “I definitely could have performed better in qualifying. I even think I could’ve reached the duels. But I touched the wall and had to start from P21. Although it’s really difficult to overtake on this narrow circuit, we fought our way up the order and made up nine positions. London was a tough weekend for us. We’ll now take a good look at what we can do better for Seoul. I’m looking forward to this new destination.”
With these two additional points Wehrlein moves clear of his teammate into 10th on 65 points in the championship, while Lotterer stays in 11th with 63 points. Porsche itself sits sixth in the teams championship with 128 points. With just two rounds remaining in the season, it is unlikely either driver will move up in the championship, and likewise the team.