British driver Oliver Rowland has become the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Champion, after an incredibly hard fought race on the streets of Berlin – while Jaguar made it two wins from two on the Tempelhof circuit this weekend.
Nissan Formula E Driver Oliver Rowland achieved a life-long dream of lifting a FIA single-seater title this weekend (13 July), by carving his way through the field, masterminding his strategy and getting his elbows out when needed to secure the Season 11 title at the end of Round 14 of the 2024/25 series. After a disappointing race on Saturday, the Nissan e-4ORCE 05 driver battled back with a championship winning drive – with a fifth place finish or better needed to secure the title. With main rival Pascal Wehrlein out of the points – the fourth place at the flag was enough to start the celebrations in Germany after a dominant season in the all-electric single-seater championship.
Jaguar TCS Racing were also celebrating in Berlin, as they achieved two wins from the Tempelhof double-header. Mitch Evans converted a pole to win yesterday and 24 hours later – Nick Cassidy ghosted his way through the order – carved his way through in a meticulous march to go from the back of the grid to first position. While the focus was on others, the New Zealander picked his competitors off, one by one – utilising his Attack Modes at the right point in the races to win his second race of the year. Cassidy’s teammate and fellow countryman Mitch Evans finished fifth – mirroring the points haul a day ago.
Season 9 Champion Jake Dennis (Andretti Formula E) was another driver who steered clear of the squabbles to show his hand in the final closing stages of the race to take second – his best of the year. Another experienced Formula E head in the form of DS Penske star and double champion Jean-Éric Vergne produced an electric race performance to go from the back of the field to the final rostrum position on the former aerodrome venue.
While Rowland and Nissan celebrated after dusting themselves off from a challenging Saturday, Porsche who looked like momentum would be swinging in their favour in the championship run in, will leave their home race scratching their heads. The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team looked undeniably strong in the opening phase of the race – dictating the pace with both Pascal Wehrlein and António Félix da Costa trading the lead. But when the rivals turned the screw, the Porsches couldn’t keep pace, and the German and Portuguese drivers were not able to race at the front and conserve the energy at the same time, with Da Costa falling to ninth and crucially for champion elect Rowland – it was a disastrous no point finish for Wehrlein.
The final phase of the race included two Safety Car periods for the safe removal of the Envision Racing machine of Sébastien Buemi and the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team car of Sam Bird in two separate incidents. With a frantic dash to flag – positions traded corner by corner. McLaren’s Taylor Barnard who had an outside mathematical chance of the title in his rookie season opted for an Attack Mode just a before a Safety Car period – evaporating his fighting chance for the win. Sixth at the flag was a commendable finish, while Felipe Drugovich who was making his Formula E debut finished seventh for Mahindra Racing. Da Costa and Sérgio Sette Câmara (Nissan) ) on his return to Formula E claimed eighth and ninth respectively as Jake Hugues (Maserati) sealed the final point in 10th.
The thrilling ABB FIA Formula E Championship heads to London for the final two rounds of the season later this month (26/27 July). Oliver Rowland will be looking for a special homecoming on the streets of London. With title pressure off the Englishman’s shoulders, the Nissan driver will be eyeing victory on his home E-Prix next time out.
Oliver Rowland, No. 23, Nissan Formula E Team said:
“Honestly, I was just thinking before the race not to have too much damage going into London! I can’t believe it, I have no words. It’s incredible. I was trying to play it safe but everybody was so aggressive, so at some point I was all in, I was getting stuck in the moves. Thankfully I stayed out of trouble, and it’s just unbelievable.”
Nick Cassidy, No. 37, Jaguar TCS Racing:
“What an awesome race. Firstly, to be honest I don’t want to take the moment from Oli [Rowland] and the Nissan guys – World Champions with a whole weekend to spare is an incredible achievement. Well done to Oliver, he’s been a class act all year. For my guys, they called that perfectly, we had a really good car in the race, we kind of knew we screwed up in qualifying and I was a bit upset about that, but the car in the race was fantastic, and that was awesome. Three wins here now, this place didn’t used to be kind to me and now it’s been an amazing venue for me across the years, so it’s really cool to win the last three years here. We’ve been improving all year – it’s no secret that Jaguar are back, the future for the team is very bright. They’re going to keep improving a lot, I think that’s been obvious the last few weekends, and I had a fantastic car.”
Jack Dennis, No. 27, Andretti Formula E said:
“We had a really good race car and the strategy we took into the race was perfectly executed – I had every opportunity to win this race and we got pretty close. I’m not too surprised to be up here, I’m just super happy for myself and for the team, we’ve been on a real bad luck streak recently so to reward them with a P2 is the least I could do. I’m excited to have this little boost coming into the final stretch, my home race in London – it’s needed. It’s more for morale, Oliver [Rowland] has already won the championship, so massive congratulations to him – I’m super happy for him, he’s a good friend of mine.”
Jean-Éric Vergne, No. 25, DS Penske said:
“I guess I took it a little bit easy at the beginning – it feels nice to be on the podium, especially after the bad luck yesterday. I think another podium yesterday would have been possible, so overall I’m quite happy with the weekend. It was a strong one and the team deserves a little bit of a reward. I’m happy for the guys, it was a good race!”