Oliver Rowland Extends Formula E Points Lead With Strong Monaco Doubleheader
The Nissan Formula E Team driver was strong in the Monaco E-Prix weekend doubleheader on the streets of Monaco this weekend, winning on Saturday and finishing a solid second behind race winner Sebastien Buemi on Sunday.
The 1-2 weekend for Rowland gave him three wins in seven races this season and a commanding lead in the points, as he chases his first Formula E title and the first Formula E title for manufacturer Nissan.
Through seven of 16 scheduled races this season, Rowland has 115 points. Antonio Felix Da Costa is a distant second with 67 points, while defending series champion Pascal Wehrlein is third with 66. A race win is worth 25 points.
On Saturday, Rowland passed pole sitter Taylor Barnard on lap 13, lost the lead briefly to Nyck de Vries, and used his Attack Mode power boost to retake the lead for good on lap 27 on his way to winning by two seconds. De Vries finished second, and Jake Dennis was third after getting hit with a five-second penalty.
Saturday's race was the second to feature Formula E's Pit Boost, where cars pit and received a power-boost charge of their EV batteries before returning to the race.
'You never know what to do with the strategy especially with these Pit Boost races—it's the second race—but we kind of had a plan and we stuck to it," Rowland said. "It was a bit trickier to pass Taylor [Barnard] to be honest, but we kept calm. Even at the end I was pretty worried during that second Attack Mode. I dropped back to fifth and I was behind two Mahindras, and I was like 'right now we need to get cracking', but great job by the team and very well executed."
On Sunday, Rowland started on the pole but finished second to Envision Racing's Buemi, who became a three-time Formula E winner at Monaco. Nick Cassidy of the Jaguar TCS team finished third for his first podium of the season.
Buemi's win wis 14th career triumph in the series and first since 2019 in New York.
Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E, 115
Antonio Felix da Costa, Tag Hauer Porsche, 67
Pascal Wehrlein, Tag Hauer Porsche, 66
Taylor Barnard, Neom McLaren, 54
Nyck De Vries, Mahindra, 52
Jake Dennis, Andretti, 44
Maximilian Gunther, DS Penske, 42
Edoardo Mortara, Mahindra, 39
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, 34
Sebastien Buemi, Envision, 31
Jake Hughes, Maserati MSG, 27
Mitch Evans, Jaguar, 25
Nick Cassidy, Jaguar, 25
Nico Mueller, Andretti, 24
Stoffel Vandoorne, Maserati MSG, 19
Lucas di Grassi, Lola Yamaha ABT, 18
Dan Ticktum, Cupra Kiro, 18
Sam Bird, Neom McLaren, 16
Norman Nato, Nissan, 11
Robin Frijns, Envision, 8
Note: Points are awarded to the top-10 finishers on a 25-18-15-12-10-8-6-4-2-1 basis. Pole position is worth three points and fastest lap of the race (so long as the driver finishes in the top-10) is worth one point.
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