Tokyo ePrix LIVE - Stoffel Vandoorne wins Japanese street race with 20-second lead to Nissan driver Oliver Rowland after perfect Pit Boost window

It was all smiles for Formula E title-winner Stoffel Vandoorne as he claimed his first victory in 49 races with a strategic masterclass around the Tokyo street circuit.

Vandoorne opted for an early Pit Boost which gave him a net lead before the safety car chaos, then he asserted his dominance with a 20-second lead over Oliver Rowland.

Rowland settled for second in Japan once again at Nissan's home race, but the Briton extended his lead at the top of the table once again.

McLaren rookie Taylor Barnard earned his third podium of his maiden Formula E season by holding off veteran drivers.

Barnard climbs up to third place in the drivers' standings behind Antonio Felix da Costa, who sits 60 points behind Rowland in the largest championship lead at the halfway point of the season in Formula E history.

Taylor Barnard has earned his third podium of the season in an impressive rookie Formula E campaign with McLaren. He secured another third-place finish after holding off veteran drivers like Sebastien Buemi and Antonio Felix da Costa, climbing up to third in the drivers' standings.

Barnard said: "Yeah. I mean, to be honest, Free Practice two this morning was great.

"It was not expected.

"I've not really driven that much in the rain, and of course, that was my first session in the wet.

"So to be honest, the turnaround from yesterday was, was incredible.

"Of course, we didn't, I didn't really expect to be racing this afternoon.

"The weather was really bad. So, for it to dry up enough that we could race, I was already surprised.

"To get another podium was incredible.

"I can't thank the team enough.

"Yeah, it's nice to be back on the podium for sure."

The current championship leader settled for second place at his team's home race for the second year running after Stoffel Vandoorne cruised to victory with a perfect strategy. Oliver Rowland will not go home disappointed, though, as he extends his lead at the top of the drivers' standings to 60 points ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa.

Rowland said: "Yeah, we did everything we could. I mean, this is part of the game, it happens.

"We knew there was a risk that people would try to do that a bit like Nico and Monaco.

"But you obviously can't do it from the front.

"So, yeah, maybe some tweaking to do on the way we manage the Pit Stop stuff.

"But honestly, from my side I felt like I got the most out of the car and it was super quick in the first half of the race.

"I struggled a little bit more in the last 10 laps, but yeah.

"I can't complain, to be honest, the fact that I was the only one that got away with that - I'm pretty happy.

"Yeah tomorrow will be different, I think qualifying will be quite important.

"And then it'll just be about positioning yourself for the attack mode during the race.

"So yeah, I haven't even thought about tomorrow yet."

Maserati driver Stoffel Vandoorne earned a glorious redemption victory in Tokyo after a perfectly-timed Pit Boost catapulted him up the pack. He put in a spectacular performance with a clever strategy to gain a net lead before the mid-point of the race, and ended up finishing 20 seconds ahead of the second-place finisher.

Vandoorne said: "Yeah, definitely. I mean, super happy that our plan actually worked.

"It was a very bold and aggressive strategy decision to burn a lot of energy in the beginning so we could open our pit window early.

"Then obviously we, you know, we were the first ones to pit, and we got a bit lucky with the red flag that the field got bunched up again.

"So, yeah, after the restart it was very difficult to bring the car home.

"A lot of management to do with giving coach to the team and making sure I had enough energy left to make it to the flag.

"Yeah, I knew exactly what was going on. I knew that I would inherit the lead at some point.

"And yeah, that I kind of just had to, had to bring it home.

"So I was probably a little bit too safe at some points.

"I kind of had a couple of mistakes that shouldn't have been there, but in the end, we brought it home.

"And yeah, I'm just super happy our plan paid off."

TNT Sports and discovery+ will show every practice session, every qualifying session and every Sprint Race and main Race of the MotoGP season.

The streaming home for TNT Sports in the UK is discovery+, where fans can enjoy a subscription that includes TNT Sports, Eurosport and entertainment in one destination.

As part of TNT Sports’ comprehensive coverage of MotoGP, it will continue to offer best-in-class analysis and reporting via its digital platform TNTSports.co.uk and content via its social platforms right throughout the season.

Starting from the 2025 season, there will be a new show on Friday evenings called The Inside Line, which will be a half-hour round-up of all the news, action and analysis from the first day of the MotoGP weekend.

Stoffel Vandoorne had an amazing Tokyo ePrix, picking up his first victory in nearly three years with a perfect Pit Boost strategy that allowed him to gain a 20-second lead over Oliver Rowland.

The championship leader settled for second place for the second year running after his dreams of being Nissan's home hero came second to Maserati's glory.

Taylor Barnard earned a third-place finish in another impressive race during his maiden Formula E campaign after the jump from Formula 2.

Formula E title-winner Stoffel Vandoorne basks in glory at the Tokyo ePrix after winning the Japanese street race with a 20-second lead over the current championship leader Oliver Rowland. Vandoorne earns his first victory since Monaco 2022.

Three laps have been added to the Tokyo ePrix after safety car chaos halted some of the race. This gives Oliver Rowland a chance to continue cutting the gap down to Maserati driver Stoffel Vandoorne in the lead of the race.

Edoardo Mortara's ATTACK MODE has not played to his advantage, unusually, as a technical problem has hindered his opportunity to regain a podium position. In his vulnerability, Mortara was passed by Sebastien Buemi who inherits a fourth place position.

Buemi set his sights on Taylor Barnard running in third place, hoping to salvage a podium position but the young McLaren driver has performed extraordinarily well in the Japanese street race. Barnard has defended well from the advances of a number of drivers with years' worth of experience.

At the front of the pack the energy is running low. While the race leader possesses 11% energy, Rowland possesses 9% on Lap 36 as his hopes of winning his team's home race is lost once again.

Stoffel Vandoorne has played his strategy out with the eyes of a tiger. He holds a 20-second lead to the championship leader Oliver Rowland running in second place, and has opted to use his final four minutes of ATTACK MODE to extend his lead of the Japanese street race.

The fight for the podium is alive and rife as Taylor Barnard defends third place from Edoardo Mortara. Mortara hopes to regain the podium position after a glorious race and amazing pace, but the young McLaren driver has shown a strong defence.

Mortara opted to deploy four minutes of his ATTACK MODE in the final few laps of the battle, and cut down Barnard's four-second gap to two very quickly. Ahead, Rowland uses his final four minutes on Lap 32 to attempt to cut Vandoorne's gap but he is still 18 seconds behind the Maserati.

After his Pit Boost, Oliver Rowland reentered the order in eighth place behind Taylor Barnard but quickly overtook the young Briton for the position. Running in seventh on Lap 26, Rowland fought the Maserati duo for a position in the top five.

On Lap 26, reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein inherited the lead as the rest of the pack took their pit stops. Neither Wehrlein or Nick Cassidy have yet to take their stops as they run in first and second place. Cassidy used the last of his ATTACK MODE to shoot up to the front of the pack as Wehrlein fled to the pits.

Meanwhile, Rowland has climbed up to fourth place and is likely to battle it out with Stoffel Vandoorne who found himself in second place. Vandoorne had an early Pit Boost which has catapulted him up to second place in the race.

Vandoorne inherited the lead when Cassidy entered the pits on Lap 28, gaining a 19-second lead to Rowland running in second place. Although, Vandoorne has made a crucial error which lost him five seconds when shunting the wall at Turn 8.

Jake Dennis was shown a Black Flag after entering the pits for his Pit Boost after the pitlane was closed. There was a misunderstanding of the regulations where visits to the pits are permitted during the safety car, but he was seemingly unaware that the safety car had already left the track before he headed into the pits. He therefore was disqualified from the Tokyo ePrix.

Meanwhile, at the front of the pack, Oliver Rowland cruises around the Tokyo street circuit in the lead while Edoardo Mortara desperately searches for some extra pace. The top three drivers still have one deployment left of ATTACK MODE for the remainder of the race.

Mitch Evans has also retired from the race after the contact between him and Nyck de Vries caused damage to his gearbox. On Lap 24, both Rowland and Mortara entered the pits for a boost, gifting the lead to Sebastien Buemi.

Rowland returned to the track still in the lead of the race as he deployed four minutes of ATTACK MODE the moment he left the pits. In another strategic masterclass, Rowland has perfectly timed ATTACK MODE to put the hammer down and create a gap to Edoardo Mortara in second place.

Robin Frijns has followed the same strategy, but in fourth place instead, deploying four minutes of ATTACK MODE to climb up to a podium position. There are just six drivers who have not used their Pit Boost just yet: Rowland, Mortara, David Beckmann, Lucas di Grassi, Nick Cassidy, and Pascal Wehrlein.

Track conditions have been improving lap by lap, and on Lap 19 the pace is as quick as can be. There has been contact between Mitch Evans and Nyck de Vries on Lap 19, as de Vries accidentally shunted Evans into the wall as he left the pitlane. Somehow the two drivers have salvaged the incident and managed to remain on track.

Conflict has risen between Envision Racing drivers Sebastien Buemi and Frijns as Frijns was forced to enter the pits for his boost while running in third place, gifting the position to his teammate Buemi. They were running in third and fourth until the Pit Boost dropped Frijns to 16th place.

The cars began to slowly head back to the track for a standing restart on Lap 14. The pack is led through the circuit by the safety car for the out-lap, allowing the drivers to build up more temperature on their tyres.

Jake Dennis has decided to head into the pit lane on Lap 15 before the restart to take his Pit Boost stop as racing conditions resumed the moment the safety car went on track. Meanwhile, Oliver Rowland got off to another excellent restart as he led the pack into the first corner.

Edoardo Mortara looked as strong as ever on the run to the first turn, but the championship leader defended well and retained his lead. Mortara was able to keep second place, but Sebastien Buemi lingers closely behind looking for a win.

News has reached the pack that the pit lane was in fact closed during the restart due to the return of the safety car, which is awful news for Dennis. 10 drivers have decided to take their Pit Boost on Lap 16, including the race leader Rowland, Mortara, Buemi, Taylor Barnard, Robin Frihns, Norman Nato, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Zane Maloney.

Nissan driver Oliver Rowland possessed 73% energy heading into Lap 10 without using his ATTACK MODE while the rest of the top ten have used one stint of their ATTACK MODE by Lap 11. An early deployment of the mode seems to have boosted the drivers far up the track, but as their energy runs out towards the end of the race, it could be more favourable to savour it.

Stoffel Vandoorne is the first of the pack to head to the pits for a Pit Boost, and exits the pitlane in last place. The Pit Boost feature essentially catapults the drivers into a mini sprint race, gifting them a 10% energy boost.

Two more drivers, Jake Hughes and Nico Mueller, have opted for four minutes of ATTACK MODE on Lap 12. They began in 16th and 20th place respectively, and are set to shoot up the order. Despite his lack of ATTACK MODE or Pit Boost, Rowland has managed to hold off the rest of the pack.

Maximilian Gunther found himself stationary at the entry of Turn 15, causing a red flag due to his lack of power. The light on his car showed red initially, but switched to green shortly after the reset. This means that his car had no power and was deemed unsafe to race. Gunther told his team, Penske, that there is no chance of recovering the car.

Vandoorne must do a full lap of the circuit to rejoin the pack after his Pit Boost stop put him in an awkward but amazing position with a net lead. His early stop puts him at an advantage as he won't have to pit for the remainder of the race, while the rest of the pack will be required to take the mandatory stop.

Sebastien Buemi has managed to climb up to second place by Lap 7 with 30 seconds of ATTACK MODE left in the hunt for the lead. Oliver Rowland has retained the lead after a feisty start to racing conditions, but Buemi is right behind with better grip and a faster speed.

The rest of the ATTACK MODE drivers are rapidly climbing up the field while the drivers savouring their ATTACK MODE are much slower. Nyck de Vries is now in fourth place after his stint, while Edoardo Mortara has found himself in third place after using two minutes of his ATTACK MODE. Mortara was able to reclaim second place with ease, snatching the position back from Buemi on the third straight of the street circuit.

The Porsche drivers are relatively absent from the race as reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein is sitting in 20th place, without having used his ATTACK MODE. His teammate Antonio Felix da Costa has used some ATTACK MODE to jump up to 11th place, but this is not showing the true power of the Porsche.

The safety car has come in after the pack had three full laps on the Japanese street circuit to gain some temperature in their tyres. Visibility is not the best in these conditions, but drivers would much rather prefer a standing start to a cancelled race.

Polesitter Oliver Rowland led the pack to their starting positions after the safety car returned to the pits after four full laps of guiding the drivers around Tokyo. It was the polesitter who got off to an amazing start, defending his lead from Edoardo Mortara around the narrow first corner. Mortara put up a fight against Rowland's teammate, Norman Nato, who battled it out for a potential podium position with the young driver.

Some drivers have already activated ATTACK MODE, including Sebastien Buemi, who is running four seconds quicker a lap than the rest of the pack. Buemi has shot up to fourth place in just six corners and looks eager to snatch the lead from the Nissan driver.

Nyck de Vries, Robin Frijns, Jean Eric Vergne, Antonio Felix da Costa, and Maximilian Gunther have all opted for an early ATTACK MODE strategy.

The safety car is off and leads the drivers around the Tokyo street circuit for the second electric race at this venue. There is not as much spray on track as expected so a standing start will be put in place.

The race start has been delayed by ten minutes due to the wet conditions of the track. It has stopped raining, but the race directors are waiting for the track surface to dry a bit more before the cars head out for a full lap of racing. The race will begin under a safety car as the spray on the opening lap will undoubtedly distort visibility.

Despite the cancellation of qualifying and the ongoing rainfall since the early hours of the morning, the Tokyo ePrix is due to begin in just five minutes. The track temperature is 20°C, and in the process of drying, as the rain has only just stopped.

The last few races in Season 11 have shown that a good strategy is key. You may be wondering, isn’t this the case for most motorsport races? Technically yes, but also no. In other forms of motorsport, like Formula 1, having the fastest car really is the key.

In Formula E, however, there are so many factors to contend with. During Pit Boost races, drivers must take a mandatory pit stop in order to gain more energy for the remainder of the race. Paired with Attack Mode, there is a lot to consider.

Monaco saw Oliver Rowland execute two days’ worth of amazing strategies that landed him two spots on the podium. In both races, he perfectly timed his Attack Mode to shoot up the grid order and score some big points for Nissan.

It was the same for Maximilian Guenther who paired his Pit Boost and Attack Mode harmoniously to land a win in Jeddah. The German driver was able to salvage his pole position after tumbling down the order with this strategy, and claim the victory.