Mortara holds off Techeetahs to take championship lead in Marrakesh

Formula E

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Edoardo Mortara controlled the Marrakesh EPrix to claim victory and the championship lead after holding off both Techeetahs.

Mortara took the lead in the early phase of the race and held off challenges from first Jean-Eric Vergne and then Antonio Felix da Costa to claim his third win of the season. Mitch Evans completed the podium in third, with Vergne finishing fourth.

At the start, pole sitter Antonio Felix da Costa held onto the lead ahead of Edoardo Mortara in second and Jean-Eric Vergne in third place in the second Techeetah. Behind, Jake Dennis run in fourth ahead of Mitch Evans’ Jaguar in fifth.

Near the back of the field, Dan Ticktum suffered a puncture and pitted, dropping him to over a minute behind the rest of the field.

Both Techeetahs of Da Costa and Vergne were the first of the front runners to take their first Attack Mode, allowing Mortara into the lead of the race. Mortara then took Attack Mode on the next lap, promoting Da Costa back into the lead.

When Da Costa’s Attack Mode expired, he immediately opted to take his second straight after with more than 35 minutes of the race still remaining. This time, Da Costa dropped to third behind Rowland, but he gained second place when Rowland took his second Attack Mode on the following lap.

There was contact between Rowland and Da Costa at turn ten, meaning Rowland moved ahead of the Techeetah. However, Rowland backed off to allow Da Costa back past him, before passing him cleanly on the following lap to move into second.

Meanwhile, Mortara had activated his second Attack Mode and kept the lead of the race, using the additional power to try and pull a gap from the chasing pack behind him. After Rowland’s second Attack Mode expired, he could not keep Da Costa at bay and the Techeetah breezed by the Mahindra to move back into second.

Evans then used his second Attack Mode to demote Rowland to fourth, before driving around Da Costa along the pit straight to move Jaguar up into second place. Lucas Di Grassi clattered into Dennis at turn one while fighting over fifth, but despite hitting the rear of the Andretti, Di Grassi’s Venturi appeared to come off second best.

Jean-Eric Vergne passed the wounded Venturi to move into sixth before overtaking Dennis to claim fifth position. Then, both Techeetahs gained one place each at the same time when Da Costa passed Evans for second and Vergne got by Rowland to take fourth place. With around 15 minutes of standard race time remaining, Vergne gained another place by passing Evans for third to sit behind his Techeetah team mate.

Out front, Mortara’s lead was less than a second, but with Da Costa chasing ahead of Vergne. However, with Vergne far ahead of Da Costa in the championship standings in second place behind leader Stoffel Vandoorne, Techeetah asked Da Costa to allow his team mate by to attack Mortara. Da Costa did so and Vergne moved up to second place.

However, Vergne was unable to challenge Mortara for the lead despite being gifted a position. Da Costa argued that he would have a better chance at attacking the leader and Techeetah agreed, asking Vergne to allow Da Costa back through into second.

Vergne agreed to the switch and Da Costa moved back into second. Vergne began to fall back from the leaders as the final minutes ticked down, eventually relinquishing the final podium place to Evans on the final lap.

Out front, Mortara managed to keep Da Costa at bay and hold on to take the chequered flag and the championship lead with it. Da Costa finished second two seconds behind the winner, with Evans claiming third for Jaguar.

Vergne crossed the line fourth, ahead of Di Grassi in fifth and Nyck de Vries in sixth position in the Mercedes. Dennie claimed seventh, with Vandoorne, Sam Bird and Rowland completing the top ten.

Marrakesh EPrix race results

PositionDriverTeam
1Edoardo MortaraVenturi
2Antonio Felix da CostaDS Techeetah
3Mitch EvansJaguar
4Jean-Eric VergneDS Techeetah
5Lucas di GrassiVenturi
6Nyck de VriesMercedes
7Jake DennisAndretti
8Stoffel VandoorneMercedes
9Sam BirdJaguar
10Oliver RowlandMahindra
11Oliver AskewAndretti
12Pascal WehrleinPorsche
13Nick CassidyEnvision
14Alexander SimsMahindra
15Andre LottererPorsche
16Sebastien BuemiNissan EDAMS
17Oliver TurveyNio
18Robin FrijnsEnvision
19Antonio GiovinazziDragon Penske
20Sergio Sette CamaraDragon Penske
21Max GuntherNissan EDAMS
22Dan TicktumNio

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Will Wood
Will has been a RaceFans contributor since 2012 during which time he has covered F1 test sessions, launch events and interviewed drivers. He mainly...

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2 comments on “Mortara holds off Techeetahs to take championship lead in Marrakesh”

  1. Best race of the season!
    Mortara looks like a beast this year, but it’s still wide open.

  2. Does anyone watch FE anymore? I forgot it was on! And judging by the tumbleweed in the comments section it seems I aren’t alone! It’s a shame because its great racing, and a great concept. But the last races are weeks and weeks apart, its really difficult to watch the races life, find highlights or follow on social media, there is so little hype and interest… and with other series developing hybrid / synthetic powertrains, its difficult to see a future for FE sadly, it seems Mercedes also agree.

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