Pascal Wehrlein was crowned Formula E world champion for the first time after finishing second behind Oliver Rowland in a dramatic final round in London.
Rowland took advantage of a tight three-way battle for the world championship to take the lead with three laps remaining to seal victory in his home event.
However, it was Wehrlein who overcame both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers – Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans – to take the overall crown.
“It’s really awesome,” said Wehrlein. “The race was hard, I knew I had to attack and get in front of the Jaguars.
“I think Mitch (Evans) defended quite hard, but I still tried to overtake and pass. I don’t know what happened in the end and it was due to the safety car that it got quite close with the attack modes.
“We knew that this weekend was the days that we needed to be super-focused and concentrated and out-perform what the car can do. This has never been a track that suits our car, we did that.
“We showed some great pace. It’s not expected (to be world champion) but I always believed in it.”
Wehrlein won the day’s previous round to go into the series finale at the head of the standings.
However, Cassidy started from pole and Jaguar TCS Racing team-mate Evans was also in the title hunt. All three drivers knew that victory in the final race would be enough to win the title.
Cassidy was pushed to the front early on by his team but Evans failed to let his team-mate stretch an advantage under attack mode.
A race which was littered by safety cars on the tight course saw all three battle throughout. New Zealander Cassidy was in the fight until a puncture resulted in him crashing out of the title battle.
Evans led for the majority of the race but was locked in a battle with Wehrlein as both refused to swing out wide to take their attack modes until late in the race.
It was New Zealander Evans who swung out to take an attack mode allowing Rowland through, only to miss the marker.
The Jaguar TCS Racing driver had to perform the attack mode manoeuvre again which allowed Wehrlein into second for the championship title.
With Evans taking his attack mode so late he had to concede the championship and finish in third.
Rowland took the race win at his home event after coming through from ninth on the grid. It was amazing,” said Rowland.
“Starting ninth in today’s kind of race we would never have expected to win, but it was a crazy race. I picked my moments in the early parts of the race and then when I got to fourth I didn’t want to get involved with the title fight. I was waiting and hoping that something would kick-off, which it did. I managed to pick up the pieces and win the race.”
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