Formula E talking points: Pascal Wehrlein leapfrogs Maximilian Guenther but still a three-man race?
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Published 16/05/2020 at 18:28 GMT+1
Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein took his second consecutive victory in round four of the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge in support of UNICEF to take the lead in the driver standings from countryman Maximilian Guenther. Here are your talking points after the midway point of the ABB Formula E Race at Home Challenge in Hong Kong.
Formula E talking points
Image credit: Eurosport
Wehrlein leapfrogs jump-starting Guenther
After the first two races of the season, things were looking a procession for Guenther who dominated to two comfortable victories to open the season – but the online competition looks to be matching its real-life counterpart for drama.
Wehrlein was left kicking himself in round two after reeling in Guenther only to crash after a lapse in concentration – but since then he’s looked imperious while Guenther had a nightmare day at the office.
While Wehrlein and Vandoorne recovered some early chaos to take first and second, Guenther was already in trouble due to jump starting which gave him a drive-through penalty and he was soon eliminated via race royale to end the day pointless.
Plenty more twists to come in the three-man dogfight
Despite Edoardo Mortara springing a surprise by taking Julius Baer pole position, the tone for the race was set in qualifying as the three-man dogfight expected between Wehrlein, Guenther and Vandoorne was still the focus of the day.
And the difference between them is miniscule with the trio setting qualifying lap times and were only separated by an incredible four-hundredths of a second.
Guenther now finds himself behind his countryman Wehrlein but he is still within touching distance of six points with Vandoorne just a further seven points back. And as proven by the events in Hong Kong, anything can happen in Formula E whether it is online or not.
Wet Hong Kong calls back to 2019
Formula E once had an unusual record of never having a wet race in four seasons but that all changed last season in Hong Kong.
A downpour pre-qualifying saw some dramatic scenes as some unfancied drivers were able to negotiate the rain better and we saw this once again as ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Edoardo Mortara took Julius Baer pole position despite only scoring two points in three races.
Mortara clearly loves the circuit having looked set to win in only his second ever Formula E race before a costly mistake and setting things right a year later when he took his first Formula E victory in the dramatic Hong Kong race last season.
Mueller lights up the track
The fight for the Challenge Grid title looks set to be a belter during the second half of the series as round one winner Joshua Rogers came roaring back into contention but Lucas Mueller took the victory.
Rogers’ enforced absence allowed Kevin Siggy to build a hefty lead at the top of standings but the Australian almost picked up where he left off but fellow title chaser Lucas Mueller made the overtake on the penultimate lap.
Lucas Mueller finished second and third in the past two races but finally took his first victory to cut Siggy’s lead at the top to 15 points as the Slovenian finished in third-place to limit the damage to his lead. The question will now be whether Mueller, or even Rogers, can reel in Siggy with four races left and win the chance to drive the real fully-electric Formula E car at a future race weekend.
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