Brit Oliver Rowland managed to escape the fight for the FIA Formula E World Championship on Sunday taking victory in the London E-Prix season finale, as Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein pipped both Jaguar drivers to claim his first Formula E title. 

Wehrlein finished second in the final race of the year at London’s ExCeL having started the race just three and four points ahead of Team Jaguar’s Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy respectively. 

Rowland (Nissan) steered through the championship carnage to a maiden win on home soil in the Hankook London E-Prix Round 16, following a puncture for Cassidy and Evans missing out on his final Attack Mode during the closing laps of the championship. 

Cassidy started off strong, escaping a collision that wiped out both Edoardo Mortara and Jake Dennis at Turn 3 on the second tour. 

Once racing resumed on lap five, Cassidy immediately went defensive into Turn 1 and again on the exit of Turn 6 in a bid to save as much energy as possible at the head of the field. 

Wehrlein started fourth, moving up to third on lap six, prior to another safety car being deployed after Sam Bird and Jehan Daruvala collided on Turn 7/8, stranding the McLaren as the Maserati MSG driver left debris on the scene. 

Evans proclaimed over the radio that the “gloves are off” having backed up the pack to allow Cassidy to rejoin in the lead, prior to making light contact with Wehrlein into Turn 1 on lap 20 and Evans was handed a black and white warning flag for moving under braking. 

With both of his Attack Modes already completed, Cassidy was in prime position until lap 28, as the second Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa, made contact at Turn 16 with the Jaguar driver at Turn 16 causing a puncture and an early race retirement. 

Evans and Wehrlein dropped behind Oliver Rowland who had climbed up the order from ninth, but the Nissan driver conceded the lead once racing resumed. 

Evans finally activated the Attack Mode the following lap, dropping behind Wehrlein and with only four laps remaining – the race extended by three laps due to the cautions – he was forced to back off in order to use the full boost of power before finishing the race. 

Wehrlein followed Rowland home to finish second and win the title by seven points from Evans who completed the podium. 

Rowland commented on his win, “Amazing! Starting ninth in today’s race I would have never expected to win but it was a crazy race. I picked my moments in the early part of the race and honestly when I got to fourth I didn’t want to get involved in the title fight, so I was kind of waiting for something to kick off… it did, and I managed to pick up the pieces and win the race.”