Maserati’s Stoffel Vandoorne hit the jackpot with his race strategy and converted his advantage into a Formula E win in a wet Tokyo E-Prix on Saturday at Tokyo Big Sight.
The Belgian’s triumph was to the dismay of the loyal Nissan fans at the track, with championship leader Oliver Rowland slipping down to second after starting on pole.
Vandoorne was the lone driver to make his mandatory recharging Pit Boost stop when last year’s winner, Maximilian Guenther, stopped at the side of the track in his Penske with a mechanical issue on the 13th lap. That prompted a red flag and another standing start, reducing Vandoorne’s deficit and allowing him to pass the field when the rest of the drivers took their stops.
Vandoorne, whose previous win came in Monaco in his championship-winning season in 2022, burned as much energy as he could in the race’s early stages in order to allow him to do the Pit Boost stop as early as possible.
After the race, Vandoorne hailed his team’s bold strategy, which gave him an unexpected win from 14th on the grid.
“We got a bit lucky with the red flag,” Vandoorne said. “I knew that I would inherit the lead at some point and I just needed to bring it home. I was probably a bit too safe at some points and there were a couple of mistakes that shouldn’t have been there but in the end we brought it home and I’m super happy.”
Rowland made his stop at the start of the 24th lap, momentarily dropping him down to eighth.
The British driver, who has taken the checkered flag for Nissan three times this season and has a large lead in the race for the drivers’ title, worked his way back up to second to repeat his performance at last year’s Tokyo race.
“We knew there was a risk that people would try to (pit early) ... but you obviously can’t do that from the front,” Rowland said. “From my side I felt like I got the most out of the car.”
Rowland's only slip-up on Saturday came when the track was at its wettest in the early stage of the race. He nearly lost control at Turn 9 and then told his race engineer to stop talking to him in the middle of a turn.
"His information was great. I nearly crashed in Turn 9 and he was the one I blamed but it wasn't really his fault," Rowland said with a laugh. "I had to blame someone."
McLaren’s Taylor Barnard, who had a heavy crash on Friday during the first practice session, finished third.
Barnard nearly caught Rowland on the final lap as the Nissan driver ran low on energy but he was unable to pass him before the line.
"I tried everything I could to try and catch up to him and overtake him," Barnard said. " I think this track is already difficult to try to overtake ... but when it's wet, off line and with all the conditions given, I don't think I could have made a calculated overtake. It would have had to be extremely risky."
Nissan’s other driver, Norman Nato, finished 15th, while the Yamaha-powered Lola’s, driven by Zane Maloney and Lucas di Grassi, finished in 16th and 17th, respectively.
Steady rain throughout the day forced organizers to cancel qualifying, putting Rowland on pole because he had the fastest time in Saturday morning’s practice session.
The rain stopped in the final hour before the planned start of the race and the track dried up throughout the 35 laps.
Rowland is now on 133 points for the season and extended his advantage to 60 points over Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa.
"It's kind of a little bit what dreams are made of to have this sort of advantage at the halfway (point) of the season," Rowland said. "We've been super solid all season. We've got a really quick car. I think I've executed pretty well in the first half of the season.
"At the moment full focus is to try and keep replicating this."
The fans who turned up at the second edition of the Tokyo E-Prix, which was expanded to feature two races this year after high demand for tickets to last year's inaugural race, braved the wet conditions Saturday and filled the stands when the race got underway.
The 22 drivers will be back at it Sunday for the second race of the Tokyo E-Prix, with the forecast calling for a mix of sun and cloud.
"Sorry for the guys who had to get completely wet today," Rowland said. "My mum was actually in the grandstand with you if that makes you feel better. But it's great to see all their support. Hopefully the weather's much better tomorrow and they come and cheer us on and we can give them another good result."
With your current subscription plan you can comment on stories. However, before writing your first comment, please create a display name in the Profile section of your subscriber account page.