MAIDEN PODIUM FOR PASCAL WEHRLEIN IN SANTIAGO
26 JANUARY 2019, SANTIAGO, CHILE – Round three of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship took place in Santiago, Chile today. In the scorching Santiago heat, where air temperatures were the hottest on record and track temperatures reached 46 degrees, Mahindra Racing’s Pascal Wehrlein kept his cool as he brought his M5Electro home second to secure his maiden Formula E podium on only his second ever outing.
Pascal dialled into the new Santiago E-Prix street circuit at O’Higgins Parque from the offset, setting the second fastest time in first practice this morning and fifth in second practice. He was fastest in group qualifying with a blistering lap, securing his first Super Pole appearance, in which he qualified second. Starting from the front row alongside Sebastien Buemi, Pascal maintained position in the opening laps of the race and then moved into third on lap 10 behind Sam Bird. He regained second on lap 21 when Sebastien Buemi made a mistake and hit the wall. He put a huge amount of pressure on leader Sam Bird in the closing laps and crossed the line in a strong second place to secure 18 championship points and get his campaign off the ground.
Jérôme finished in the top ten in both of the morning practice sessions but an issue in the first sector of his qualifying lap saw him forced to start the race from the tenth row of the grid in 20th. An eventful race saw Jerome able to make several overtakes and capitalise on other on-track incidents to steadily pick his way through the field and move up the order over the 45 minutes. He crossed the line in tenth, an impressive ten places higher than his starting spot and collected the final championship point.
In the championships, Mahindra Racing remains second in the Team’s battle, while Jerome is now second in the Driver’s fight, two points behind Sam Bird. Pascal now has his points account open and is sitting ninth in the standings.
The fourth round of the 2018/19 ABB FIA Formula E Championship takes place on Saturday 16 February at the Autodromo Hernandez Rodriguez in Mexico City.