Jean-Eric Vergne Wins First-Ever Hyderabad E-Prix - Mahindra Manages 7th As Jags KO Each Other

The first ever Hyderabad E-Prix turned out to be one of the best races in the series in quite a few years.

Published: Saturday, February 11, 2023, 17:45 [IST]

The first-ever Hyderabad E-Prix turned out to be one of the best races in the series in quite a few years. DS Penske's Jean-Eric Vergne (the only two-time Formula E champ to date) held off Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy despite starting the final lap with around 2 per cent power available.

Vergne, affectionately known as JEV, by Formula E fans, took the lead of the race just a few laps after Jaguar driver Sam Bird took out his teammate and polesitter Mitch Evans when trying to overtake Nissan's Sacha Fenestraz.

That very crash also pushed Maserati's Max Gunther out of contention as he lost quite a few places. Both Gunther and Fenestraz were able to continue but both Jags ended up retiring.

While the race ended polesitter Evans' race, it was not the first time that the kiwi driver found himself paying for the errors of others. Evans was leading till the 7th lap when he was told by his team to take 'Attack Mode'.

This allowed Sebastian Buemi and Jean-Eric Vergne to slip past the Kiwi driver who could only quietly vent his frustration at the Jag engineers ( India is a second home race for the Jaguar team and the carmaker is owned by the Tata Group).

However, there was more drama to follow on the fast-paced Hyderabad E-Prix track, which is set next to the Hussain Sagar lake. Post the crash, Vergne found himself on the tail of Envision's Sebastian Buemi and soon made his way past the Swiss driver. Buemi tried to fight back by immediately taking Attack mode, but this allowed his teammate Nick Cassidy to sneak his way into second overall.

Cassidy was soon on JEV's tail when the race had another twist in its tale. McLaren's jake Hughes crashed on his own on the track triggering the safety car which once again bunched up the cars. However, just a few seconds into the restart, the other McLaren also crashed out as Rene Rast bumped Jake Dennis' Andretti with his papaya-coloured machine.

Now with the race in the final laps of its 32-lap run (+1 additional lap for time under the safety car), JEV found himself low on charge with Cassidy on his tail with his battery levels at least 4 to 5 per cent more than the Frenchman.

However, JEV fended off the Kiwi who made one final attempt on the 3rd corner of the final lap to make history and take home the victory at the first-ever Hyderabad E-Prix by just four-tenths of a second.

Porsche's Da Costa and Wehrlien were next on time sheets with the latter still in charge of the championship. Envision's Buemi had finished the race in 3rd but was hit with a drive through penalty that saw him drop to 15th.

Thoughts On The First-Ever Hyderabad E-Prix

The Hyderabad E-Prix saw world championship motor racing return to India after a 10-year period. While it wasn't a good race for the Indian teams with Mahindra's Oliver Rowland the only points scorer in 7th place. Mahindra's Lucas Di Grassi finished 14th overall while both Jaguars (owned by Tata Motors) crashed out.

Overall, the race was fun to watch for those in the grand stands and at home and showed once again that India is more than ready for top-tier racing.