Nick Cassidy Moves Into Title Fight After Round 8 Berlin E-Prix Win

BERLIN – Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy secured his first win of the year by taking the second and final race of the SABIC Berlin E-Prix at the Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit, with Jake Dennis finishing second and Jean-Eric Vergne rounding out the podium finishers in Round 8 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

The race started after a slight delay due to climate change protestors climbing the fence along the start-finish area and sitting down. They attempted to glue themselves onto the track. Marshals were able to remove the protestors safely from the track before the start.

According to The Race, second-place finisher, Dennis, said he didn’t really know what their goals were or what they were trying to accomplish by doing such an act. However, he was impressed by Formula E’s response to get them removed quickly, so the race could go on as planned.

“Thankfully they did it before the lights came on so it allowed us to sit and wait and I think all the drivers did a good job to stay calm because that can cause a build-up of tension but in Turn 1 it was all pretty clean,” Dennis said.

Cassidy started eighth on the grid and took the lead on Lap 25 – where he then went on to set the pace and executed a tactical strategy that helped him manage his energy consumption beautifully en route to picking up an important win.

“I knew that I would be in the fight for the win, I’ve been in the fight for the last five races,” said Cassidy.

“We had a great opportunity in the first race as well, but I made a mistake, and today we really made it count. The team have given me an opportunity to win pretty much every weekend and as a driver that’s a dream.”

Dennis was within striking distance on the final lap in the Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric but was not close enough to get by Cassidy, securing a second-place result and ending a four-race drought of not finishing inside the points.

Dennis’ weekend did not start off well. After qualifying fifth on the grid for Saturday’s race and making his way up to second by Lap 5, he was at the front around Lap 12 but had been shuffled back to sixth later on. Unfortunately, Dennis’ bad luck wouldn’t end there as he braked late in the Airplane Turn that subsequently took out Antonio Felix da Costa’s TAG Heuer Porsche in the process.

After a run of contact and DNFs ruining his last four appearances, Sunday was another chance for Dennis to make amends. By Turn 1, Dennis was seventh and just a couple of seconds separated him from the race lead. He displayed level-headed driving and strategic racing – and with that, he kept his nose clean and was able to secure a podium position.

“I was in a bit of a deep, dark place yesterday after the crash with Antonio (Felix da Costa),” Dennis said. “I could see the team were quite down and weren’t in the best place, so we needed this. We needed it for the championship – not only for myself but the Teams’ championship.

“It was great to see everyone so happy at the end and it felt like a win for us to be honest, after all the bad luck we’ve had.”

Vergne from DS Penske finished third, getting a steady gain of points this weekend. This saw him close the gap to the top of the Driver’s Championship. However, Vergne admitted that he did not have the pace to challenge the Jaguar-powered Envision, but felt pleased with the results and he has his eye on the long game.

“Overall, it’s been a good weekend,” Vergne said. “We’ve had a very good day today. A very good qualifying, good race and good execution. The car I had was great and we managed the best results that we could.

“I’m very happy with this result and this podium but I’m going to keep pushing hard because we need more wins. Overall, it’s been a good weekend and I’m happy. Let’s keep pushing.”

After Round 8, Pascal Wehrlein leads the Driver’s Championship with 100 points, Nick Cassidy’s in second at 96 points and Jean-Eric Vergne has 81 points in third. TAG Heuer Porsche continues to lead the Teams’ Championship at 168 points, Envision Racing with 153 points and Jaguar TCS Racing at 138 points.

GRID Ranking

The 2023 GRID Ranking is the seventh year of the premier motorsport ranking in the world and it was initially released on Sunday, April 2.

Drivers in the seven racing series participating in the ranking (NASCAR, IndyCar, Formula 1, Formula E, World Rally Championship, Repco Supercars, MotoGP) have earned GRID Ratings, which help determine their seeding each week in the 2023 GRID Ranking.

Week 4 GRID Ranking Formula E Drivers:

SABIC Berlin E-Prix Round 8 Results:

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