Valencia E-Prix: Dennis scores lights-to-flag win for BMW

The BMW Andretti driver led from lights to flag against expectation and remained in total control at the Circuit Ricardo Tormo in a race that showcased the need to manage energy.

At a permanent track where holding first place was seen as a disadvantage while others could chase in the slipstream and pass late on, Dennis controlled the race to win by 1.5 seconds.

He led the race slowly off the line as the entire grid fell into an early procession to preserve energy for an expected late sprint finish and kept early chaser Alex Lynn four tenths behind.

Lynn looked good for the win as he stuck to the rear of Dennis’s car but when he activated attack mode he fell behind fourth-place starter Oliver Turvey as Dennis remained in first.

Dennis did not sprint away to preserve energy, meaning that when Turvey ran out of his higher power attack mode boost, Lynn was able to close back up.

But the Mahindra Racing driver was then punted from the chasing Norman Nato into the tight Turn 9 and that knocked Lynn’s car sideways and onto the gravel where he slipped to ninth.

Venturi Racing driver Nato would then be handed a five-second time penalty meaning his second place across the line became an eventual fifth.

That gave Dennis breathing space in the lead and he then slowed the pace further to allow the race timer to tick down to zero, leaving only a one-lap flat-out sprint to the flag.

That reprimand for Nato handed Andre Lotterer the second spot on the podium for Porsche as Lynn managed to recover to fourth on the road and third in the amended results.

Audi driver Rene Rast bucked the trend by activating his second attack mode very early on and that allowed the driver who started in 14th to run in contention for a surprise podium.

But severe late energy management dropped to sixth place as Nissan e.dams driver Oliver Rowland capitalised for fourth place.

Two-time champion Jean-Eric Vergne converted his seventh in qualifying to the same result in the race for DS Techeetah as NIO 333 charger Turvey dropped to an eventual eighth.

The second Venturi machine of Edoardo Mortara ran to ninth as Lucas di Grassi deployed his fanboost late on to record a double overtake into Turn 1 and complete the top 10.

Dennis’ teammate Maximilian Guenther recorded from last on the grid, after his qualifying lap time was deleted, up to 12th ahead of Nick Cassidy – also recovering after his time was thrown out as well.

Defending champion Antonio Felix da Costa suffered a technical fault that meant he could not activate his attack mode, which then earned him a drivethrough penalty.

He finished 22nd ahead of Alexander Sims, the Mahindra Racing driver also taking an early trip through the pitlane after the team overcooled the car’s battery on the grid.

The only retirement was for Mercedes racer Stoffel Vandoorne, who was squeezed into an inside tyre wall in a dice with Nissan e.dams driver Sebastien Buemi in the fight for 11th.

Race results:

Cla	#	Driver	Team	Gap
1	27	Jake Dennis	Andretti Autosport
2	36	Andre Lotterer	Porsche Team	1.483
3	94	Alex Lynn	Mahindra Racing	2.428
4	22	Oliver Rowland	DAMS	2.870
5	71	Norman Nato	Venturi	5.811
6	33	René Rast	Team Abt	8.122
7	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	Techeetah	8.782
8	8	Oliver Turvey	NIO Formula E Team	11.292
9	48	Edoardo Mortara	Venturi	12.014
10	11	Lucas di Grassi	Team Abt	12.405
11	23	Sébastien Buemi	DAMS	13.295
12	28	Maximilian Gunther	Andretti Autosport	13.594
13	37	Nick Cassidy	Virgin Racing	14.329
14	10	Sam Bird	Jaguar Racing	15.151
15	20	Mitch Evans	Jaguar Racing	17.213
16	17	Nyck de Vries	Mercedes	18.444
17	88	Tom Blomqvist	NIO Formula E Team	18.885
18	99	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche Team	19.274
19	4	Robin Frijns	Virgin Racing	19.756
20	6	Nico Müller	Dragon Racing	21.069
21	7	Sergio Sette Camara	Dragon Racing	32.079
22	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Techeetah	59.698
23	29	Alexander Sims	Mahindra Racing	1'04.277
	5	Stoffel Vandoorne	Mercedes	10 Laps
View full results