Mortara Beats Frijns, di Grassi to Take Race Two Win For Venturi in Diriyah

Edoardo Mortara secured victory in the second race of the Diriyah E-Prix weekend in a race full of intrigue that ended behind the safety car.

The ROKIT Venturi Racing driver passed team-mate Lucas di Grassi for the lead as he utilised his attack mode to perfection as early leader and race two polesitter Nyck de Vries slid down the order after leading the early laps.

A late race safety car, caused when Alexander Sims crashed his Mahindra Racing car at turn six, prevented any racing in the final five minutes, and Mortara was able to hold on ahead of Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns, who had passed the second Venturi of di Grassi on lap twenty-nine.

De Vries kept hold of the lead at the start and was followed into turn one by his fellow front row starter Mortara, and the early laps were fairly uneventful, compared to what was to come.

The Mercedes-EQ Formula E Team driver held onto the lead through the first round of attack modes, but when di Grassi made an early move to activate his for a second time, the race began to turn.  The veteran Brazilian jumped Frijns for third and then took over second as Mortara took his second attack mode, with di Grassi then using his additional power to catch and pass de Vries for the lead.

Mortara followed through into second before he used the additional time he had on di Grassi to take over at the front, while Frijns and Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team’s André Lotterer switched positions behind the leading trio.  Frijns eventually passed and stayed ahead of the German and turned his focus to those ahead of him.

The delay by de Vries to use his attack mode cost him third to Frijns when he eventually did take it, but the fall through the field was far from done for the winner of race one.

Jean-Éric Vergne made a robust move on de Vries for fourth, with contact between the two leaving the Mercedes driver exposed as Lotterer, Avalanche Andretti Formula E Team’s Jake Dennis, team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne and Mahindra Racing’s Oliver Rowland to run ninth.

A later attack mode usage for Pascal Wehrlein also helped the second Porsche to pass de Vries, who was forced to settle for just one point having started the race at the very front.

At the front, Frijns worked his way ahead of di Grassi, while Lotterer took over fourth from Vergne, with Dennis also passing the two-time champion for fifth, but any chance of a battle for the lead was ended when Sims crashed out, with time running out before the safety car could leave the track.

Mitch Evans missed out on points for Jaguar TCS Racing in eleventh, just ahead of the leading rookie, Andretti’s Oliver Askew, although the American ended the race with a missing wheel arch after making contact behind the safety car as he slowed dramatically as it passed Sims’ crash scene.

It was another disappointing day for António Félix da Costa, with the DS Techeetah driver dropping outside of the points early on as he struggled for pace, the Portuguese driver ending thirteenth ahead of the Nissan e.dams pair of Sébastien Buemi and Maximilian Günther.

The two drivers who started on the back row after crashes in Qualifying and free practice – Jaguar’s Sam Bird and Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy, could only on climb to sixteenth and seventeenth respectively, while the field was completed by Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Sérgio Sette Câmara and Antonio Giovinazzi, who ended either side of NIO 333 FE Team duo Oliver Turvey and Dan Ticktum.

Mortara’s win moves him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship, four points clear of de Vries, while just one point split Venturi and Mercedes at the top of the Teams’ championship heading into the Mexico City E-Prix in two weeks time.

Diriyah E-Prix Race 2 Result