Cassidy had already taken third place at the season-opening E-Prix in Mexico City and followed that up with the same result on the second lap in Diriyah before attacking at just the right time in Saturday’s encounter to take the lead and stay there under pressure. . Robin Frijns (Envision Racing), second, and Oliver Rowland (Nissan), the poleman, who finished 3rd in the race.
Frijns flew off to borrow Rowland’s lead at the first corner, but Cassidy had enough speed and power in his Jaguar I-TYPE 6 to stay with the more sensible two and fight his way through the first set of ATTACK MODE activations and take Top Point.
RESULTS: The full 2024 Diriyah E-Prix Round 3 classification
Once he had the lead, Cassidy was able to hold it to his mandatory 50kW moment in ATTACK MODE after building up a 2. 5 moment cushion. From then on, he never looked back and dealt with things perfectly until the checkered flag, even though Frijns and Rowland only overtook him in the final quarter of the race. Frijns sealed his return to the podium with his final holiday in New York two seasons ago, while Rowland landed his first podium since Seoul in season 8.
Jake Hughes (NEOM McLaren) matched his teammate’s result from Round 2 to cross the line in fourth – a career best – at the site of his maiden pole in Formula E. Season 8 title-winner Stoffel Vandoorne (DS PENSKE) finished fifth for the fifth time in Diriyah, just ahead of the second Nissan of Sacha Fenestraz – both cars inside the top six for the Japanese marque having scored no points this season prior to Round 3.
Former leaderboard leader and Mexico City winner Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) finished seventh, moving from tenth on the grid to a run of 14 consecutive races unmatched lately. He is followed by two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE), eighth, Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) ninth and reigning champion Jake Dennis (Andretti) achieves tenth and one bonus point for fastest lap after a disastrous qualifying consultation, under his own power. I’ll admit: I’ve noticed that he misses duels.
All that sees Cassidy jump to a chunky 18-point lead in the Drivers’ World Championship from Wehrlein with Vergne third and Dennis fourth. Jaguar TCS Racing holds a 29-point advantage in the Teams’ table over DS PENSKE.
Formula E returns for the fourth part of season 10 in Sao Paulo on March 16.
Rowland took the lead early on but swerved three times at Turn 1, with Frijns getting ahead of the Nissan driver to borrow the top position at Turn 1.
After a cagey opening five laps, Rowland, Vandoorne and Hughes were the the first to jump for their initial of two mandatory 50kW ATTACK MODE boosts – Rowland losing second position on-track. Leader Frijns took two minutes’ ATTACK MODE on the following lap and held off the Nissan driver to retain the lead. Rowland wasted no time in taking his second 50kW boost, as soon as his first two-minute dose expired, he went for his second six-minute activation while holding onto third. Through all that, Cassidy managed to hit the front.
At the front, Cassidy jumped through the trigger zone on lap 8 after building enough of a lead to stay in P1. Frijns followed in second with Rowland third ahead of Vandoorne, Hughes and rookie Daruvala rounding out the top six.
On lap 10, a little further back, Sam Bird (NEOM McLaren) continued his progress from 12th on the grid when the lights went out with a classic move on Sette Camara to take ninth at Turn 18.
It looked forged for Cassidy at the front with a lead of around 1. 6sec, while Frijns at the rear complained of excessive energy consumption as he tried to hold on to the leading Jaguar. The two more sensible had gained five points over Rowland on the third lap. 12, but Cassidy still had to perform his second activation of ATTACK MODE.
On lap thirteen, the New Zealander took that maximum power of 50 kW and retained the lead after losing 2. 5 seconds to Frijns; the Envision Racing driver was still complaining about having to use more power than he expected to stay with the leader at the Jaguar factory.
Having qualified down in the pack, 13th and 14th respectively, Evans and Dennis had only made up a place apiece by Lap 15, with moves by Sette Camara one after another at Turn 18 and the final corner.
Cassidy’s merit at the front of the box had been gradually diminished despite this initial push, and on lap 17 Frijns closed in on the Jaguar, chasing it for the lead while regaining some usable power behind the I-TYPE 6 ahead. .
A war between seventh-placed Bird and eighth-placed Wehrlein went in favor of the German, while Bird chased Fenestraz’s sixth. A too-quick move at Turn 18 forced the NEOM McLaren driver to oversteer and lose ground and position to the expecting TAG Heuer Porsche. backstage. From there, things went from bad to worse: Brit Bird hit the wall, ending her career prematurely.
Wehrlein continued to make progress as he chased Vergne down the road to a clear seventh, passing the DS PENSKE driver at Turn 1 with relative ease. The good thing about the leader of the pre-race standings, who was tenth.
On lap 25, they faced the leaders, with just 3 seconds between Cassidy, Frijns, Rowland, Hughes, Vandoorne and Fenestraz with 11 laps to go. From there, the most sensible six fought until the end and now only 4 seconds. They separate the 10 most sensible riders and 0. 8 seconds between the trio on the podium.
But that’s about it. The no-nonsense six led at home, with Cassidy taking his first win for the factory Jaguar team.