FORMULA E
Copyright © Aemilia Cumberland - Jean Eric Vergne for DS Penske at the London E-Prix
 Credit: Oscar Lumley Under the night lights of the Jeddah Corniche Circuit, Oliver Rowland took his second victory of the season in all-British podium on Saturday. Rowland took victory in the fourth round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, in what completed the first double-round weekend of the season, in what was a well-managed race by the 32-year-old. The championship leader took victory in an all-British podium with Taylor Barnard finished second for NEOM McLaren for his second podium of the weekend. The 20-year-old was not quite able to convert his first pole position into his first Formula E victory. Maserati's Jake Hughes finished third after being fended off by Barnard in the latter stages of the E-Prix in a heated end to proceedings. It was also an all-British top four with 2023 Formula E champion Jake Dennis finishing fourth after starting 19th on the grid. Jaguar's Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season with a fifth place finish as his teammate Mitch Evans retired due to a mechanical problem. Antonio Felix Da Costa and Maximilian Gunther were the other retirements with three failing to finish overall. With the win, Rowland extends his gap at the top of the championship to 17 points, with second in the standings now being Taylor Barnard after a double-podium weekend for the talented young British driver. How round four of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship unfolded in JeddahTo conclude the first double-round weekend of the 2024/25 Formula E campaign would be race time for round four of the season's 16-round championship, in the first ever visit to Jeddah in the championship's history. After a fantastic first race in Jeddah for Formula E, there would be expectation, that the second race of the weekend, would be exciting again. Maximilian Gunther won round three on Friday for his first win at DS Penske, converting from pole position. Starting from pole position for round for the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship would be the NEOM McLaren of Taylor Barnard, who a few hours prior to the E-Prix became the youngest pole sitter in Formula E history. He would have Oliver Rowland for company alongside him in an all-British front row. It would go further and become an all-British top three as Jake Hughes would go from third for Maserati. Both Maserati drivers ended up making it to the duels semi finals but Stoffel Vandoorne would be disqualified post-session. for not having his fire extinguisher equipped throughout qualifying. Therefore he would start from the very back of the grid. It would be time to go racing after a delay to the five lights, following Lucas Di Grassi having a system issue but he would be able to get going and take his position on the grid. The lights would eventually go out and Barnard would get a great start to proceedings and lead into the first corner as Rowland dropped to third behind the Maserati of Hughes who would move up into second position. There would be drama in the next couple of corners as Maximilian Gunther would collide with the Porsche of Antonio Felix Da Costa with both picking up significant damage and they would each pit at the end of the opening lap. Da Costa would try get going but his car would be too damaged, as well as Gunther's and both would look to be out of the race early on in Jeddah. meanwhile, Race Control would put the incident between the pair under investigation. Out front, Barnard was managing his pwn race well as it remained an all-British top three. This would be until the DS Penske of Jean-Eric Vergne would make a tidy pass on the Nissan of Rowland. Vergne would move into a provisional podium position of third. Lucas Di Grassi would be the first driver to take his first of two mandatory attack mode for Lola Yamaha ABT. It was working well for Di Grassi as he was making a high amount of progress. The experienced Brazilian racer would make his way up into second overtaking Hughes, Rowland, Vergne and Dan Ticktum to see himself into a very good position from his first Attack Mode. Soon enough there would be additional drivers making a trip to the Attack Mode in terms of Pascal Wehrlein and David Beckmann. Wehrlein would visit Attack Mode one lap prior than Beckmann but both remaining Germans would be looking to make progress. Rowland would soon make his way through the lead pack to take the lead ahead of Barnard who began to drop back a couple of positions in an energy saving tactic. Second would soon become fourth for Barnard as he would concede a provisional podium position to Vergne and Wehrlein. A brief yellow flag would be waved while some debris was cleared but there was no need for an introduction of a Full Course Yellow or a Safety Car. At the end of lap 10 of 31 Rowland would remain in the lead from Vergne, Barnard, Wehrlein and Ticktum who would be the top five. However halfway through their lap 10 of the race Robin Frijns of Envision and Mitch Evans of Jaguar would take their first Attack Modes. Frijns would be making his way through the field and using the Attack Mode to his advantage and would take the lead of the race and would dislodge Rowland from the race lead. Sam Bird would be then penalised for failing to follow the Race Director's instructions in the form of a five-second time penalty. It had not been the easiest Jeddah E-Prix for Bird as he had picked up damage in the opening stages and would have had to compete with it. After starting third, Hughes had dropped back slightly in potential a tactic to save his energy by instead following other cars and staying in the mid pack. After taking his first Attack Mode consumption of the mandatory two in the race. The Maserati driver would make his way through to third but would go no further as Rowland would take two minutes of his eight allotted minutes of Attack Mode. Rowland would need to use six minutes in another part of the race. Unsurprisingly Rowland would take the lead as on lap 15, Barnard and Vergne would visit the Attack Mode for the first time. It would be an important one for both drivers as they were needing to catch Rowland. Sure enough Barnard would find his way through and into the lead meanwhile Vergne would get close but would not have enough to get ahead of Rowland and would have settle for third, for the time being. Nick Cassidy had made a lot of progress and made his way up to third with his second and final usage of Attack Mode. The New Zealander had yet to score a point in the first three rounds of the season, he was in a good position to potentially capitalise. Jake Dennis who had started 19th on the grid was up and into the lead with using his final Attack Mode on lap 24. The same lap would also see Rowland and Vergne take their final Attack Modes with each driver having saved six minutes for the latter stages of the E-Prix. The following lap and Barnard would take his final Attack Mode of the race but would have less Attack Mode remaining than Rowland despite taking it a lap later than his former mentor. This would be an intense final stage to the Jeddah E-Prix for round four of the championship. Meanwhile at Jaguar, it would be disaster for Mitch Evans who would retire from the E-Prix with a mechanical issue and would become the race's third retirement. Meanwhile Rowland was trying to pull out a lead after overtaking Dennis for the race lead with Barnard and Vergne charging him down from further behind. Barnard would make a double pass on Vergne and Dennis to move into the top two! These latter stages were set to be super close with Jake Hughes taking his extra Attack Mode and making his way up to fourth overall as he was bringing himself into contention for a podium position. On lap 29, he would move into third ahead of Vergne! Barnard would be struggling though for grip and the McLaren driver would be under pressure from Hughes as the Jeddah E-Prix was into the final two laps. Incredibly despite the Attack Mode advantage Barnard would keep Hughes behind with him getting his elbows out! The race would move onto the final lap of the race with Rowland pulling clear out in front for Nissan as Barnard was having to withstand the pressure from Hughes as Vergne, Dennis and Cassidy were also pressuring for place on the podium in the dying moments. A great pass from Dennis around the outside of Vergne and Cassidy through turns 13, 14, 15 and 16 and would take fourth place while pressuring for a spot on the podium in quite incredible fashion. Out front though, Rowland had put a great strategy together and would take his second win of the season with a sensational drive in Saudi Arabia. Rowland would achieve his second win of the 2024/25 Formula E campaign, following his January victory in Mexico City. Rowland would lead home Taylor Barnard who was unable to convert pole position into victory and would have to settle for second. Jake Hughes completed the podium for Maserati in all-British podium. Jake Dennis would make it an all-British top four in a fantastic drive from 19th on the grid in what was an excellent drive from the 2023 Formula E Champion. Nick Cassidy scored his first points of the season as he completed the top five for Jaguar. Following disqualification in qualifying, Stoffel Vandoorne would finish sixth after starting from the back of the grid and 22nd specifically. Jean-Eric Vergne would end up seventh as the sole DS Penske remaining in the race. Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein would finish eighth ahead of Dan Ticktum and Edoardo Mortara who would complete the top 10 and points scoring positions. After an exhausting but thrilling weekend at a brand new Formula E venue in Jeddah, it would not be long before the world championship would visit its next brand new venue with Miami hosting the next round of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in April. 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship: Round 4 - Jeddah E-Prix race result
 Brandon Whiteside
Writer & X Contributor - F1 Journal
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