Cassidy seizes championship lead with second straight victory in Monaco

Formula E

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Nick Cassidy benefitted from two late Safety Cars to hold off Mitch Evans, secure his second successive Formula E win in Monaco and seize the championship lead.

In a frantic encounter of the type which has become familiar in Formula E’s ‘Gen3’ era, Cassidy rose from ninth on the grid, overtook Evans for the lead, then held off pressure from the Jaguar driver after a late Safety Car restart to win.

The drivers took the chequered flag under Safety Car conditions again after a late crash. Evans finished second with Jake Dennis taking the final podium spot for Andretti.

Sacha Fenestraz had originally taken pole position by beating Jake Hughes in the qualifying duels final, only for the front row positions to be reversed when Fenestraz had his time deleted for a technical infringement in the final. That put Hughes onto pole and the McLaren driver held his lead as the lights went out at the start of the race.

Hughes led Fenestraz, Norman Nato and Dan Ticktum, the latter jumping from fifth to fourth ahead of Maximilian Guenther. The opening laps were spent with Hughes leading the entire field in a single long train, none of the leading drivers daring to attempt a pass around the narrow, twisting street circuit. Andre Lotterer became the first retirement at the end of the opening lap, spinning into the wall after side-by-side contact with Rene Rast’s McLaren out of the final corner, Anthony Noghes.

Hughes led from pole in the early laps
Cassidy started to make progress through the field, moving past Evans and Ticktum to take third place. Hughes became the first of the leaders to take Attack Mode on lap seven, dropping from the lead of the race to fourth. That promoted Fenestraz into the lead, before he took Attack Mode on the next lap, emerging ahead of former leader Hughes.

By now Cassidy was leading ahead of Nato, but they took Attack Mode on the next lap which promoted Ticktum into the lead. Over the next few laps, Evans and Jake Dennis took Attack Mode while Fenestraz activated it for a second time, ending up in third place by the time his fourth and final minute of extra power had expired.

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At the end of the cycle of Attack Modes at the midpoint of the race, Cassidy emerged with the lead ahead of Dennis with Evans third having just taken three minutes of Attack Mode. With the extra power available to him, Evans passed Dennis under braking for the harbour chicane to take second place, before driving clean around Cassidy at the end of the next lap with his last few seconds of Attack Mode.

After leading for a couple of laps, Evans surrendered the lead to Cassidy at the start of lap 18, putting the Envision driver back out front. The leaders continued to run in a train until the damaged Nio car of Ticktum made contact with Guenther heading up the hill after Sainte Devote, leaving the Maserati stopped on the side of the road at Casino Square.

Cassidy held off pressure from Evans
The Safety Car was deployed for a handful of laps, with the race resuming at the start of lap 25, Cassidy leading away from Evans, Dennis and Fenestraz. Cassidy absorbed pressure from Evans behind, but Evans was denied the opportunity to attack the Envision driver for the lead in the final laps as a clash between Sam Bird and Nico Muller at Sainte Devote left the Abt driver stranded on the circuit, leading to the Safety Car being deployed for a second time.

With only two laps remaining, the race finished under Safety Car conditions. Cassidy duly completed the final two tours to lead the field over the line and take his second consecutive victory. Evans finished second with Dennis completing the podium in third.

Fenestraz took fourth for Nissan, with Ticktum holding onto sixth despite a damaged car. Jean-Eric Vergne was seventh ahead of fellow Formula E champions Sebastien Buemi and Stoffel Vandoorne. Sam Bird took the final point in tenth for Jaguar.

The win for Cassidy sees him jump clear into the lead of the championship, 21 points ahead of Pascal Wehrlein. Dennis moves up to third on 96 points, with Evans now close behind him on 94.

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2023 Monaco Eprix race results

Pos. No. Driver Team Car
1 37 Nick Cassidy Envision Jaguar I-Type 6
2 9 Mitch Evans Jaguar Jaguar I-Type 6
3 27 Jake Dennis Andretti Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
4 23 Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04
5 5 Jake Hughes McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04
6 33 Dan Ticktum NIO 333 NIO 333 ER9
7 25 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske DS E-TENSE FE23
8 16 Sebastien Buemi Envision Jaguar I-Type 6
9 1 Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske DS E-TENSE FE23
10 10 Sam Bird Jaguar Jaguar I-Type 6
11 94 Pascal Wehrlein Porsche Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
12 48 Edoardo Mortara Maserati Maserati Tipo Folgore
13 11 Lucas di Grassi Mahindra Mahindra M9Electro
14 4 Robin Frijns Abt Cupra Mahindra M9Electro
15 3 Sergio Sette Camara NIO 333 NIO 333 ER9
16 13 Antonio Felix da Costa Porsche Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
17 58 Rene Rast McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04
18 17 Norman Nato Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04
19 51 Nico Mueller Abt Cupra Mahindra M9Electro
20 7 Maximilian Guenther Maserati Maserati Tipo Folgore
21 8 Oliver Rowland Mahindra Mahindra M9Electro
22 36 Andre Lotterer Andretti Porsche 99X Electric Gen3

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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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3 comments on “Cassidy seizes championship lead with second straight victory in Monaco”

  1. Sacha Fenestraz had originally taken pole position by beating Jake Hughes in the qualifying duels final, only for the front row positions to be reversed when Fenestraz had his time deleted for a technical infringement in the final. That put Hughes onto pole and the McLaren driver held his lead as the lights went out at the start of the race.

    Hughes also had his time deleted for track limits. The reason he got the pole anyway was that Fenestraz was disqualified from the final session. Hughes wasn’t.

  2. thegamer23
    6th May 2023, 16:59

    Cassidy is on a charge!!
    Some proper battles out there today, shame that the Safety Car neutered the final battle for the lead between Evans & Cassidy, but hey….it happens on a street circuit.
    Better than throw a Red Flag with two laps to go and restart the race for a final lap.

  3. Blimey, looks like they could run the Monaco Grand Prix tomorrow! (And I wish they would, instead of Miami and squeezing a classic triple-crown event between two pretty average GPs) Do they leave the course set up for the next 3 weeks? I know there’s no Monaco Historic racing this year, but are other races going on?

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