Edoardo Mortara takes the lead in Formula E leg in Morocco

Edoardo Mortara has taken the lead in the drivers’ standings with a victory in the tenth race of the Formula E season. The Venturi driver finished ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa (DS Techeetah) and Mitch Evans (Jaguar) at the ePrix in Marrakech, Morocco.

Mortara in the customer Mercedes of the Venturi team had already started the race from the front row, in the final qualifying duel he had to admit defeat to da Costa in the DS Techeetah. The two DS (Jean-Eric Vergne had started from 3rd place) and Mortara also set the tone early in the race.

As is typical for Formula E races, energy management and the use of the attack mode were decisive. This had to be activated twice in the race in Marrakech, for which the drivers have to drive through the activation zone in a certain corner, which is outside the racing line. This time loss is compensated by an additional power (250 instead of 200 kW) for several minutes.

DS driver da Costa activated his two attack modes very early in the 45-minute race. In doing so, he fell behind Mortara, but was unable to overtake the Swiss in the Venturi despite the extra power. In the end, Mortara was able to bring a lead of 2.297 seconds to the finish. In the last lap, Costa’s team mate Vergne had to save energy and was overtaken by Jaguar driver Mitch Evans. The New Zealander made it onto the podium from sixth place on the grid.

After his third win of the season, Mortara now leads the drivers’ standings with 139 points with six races to go, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne (128), Stoffel Vandoorne (125) and Mitch Evans (124). Among the teams, Venturi took the lead with 205 points, just ahead of DS Techeetah (203) and Mercedes (198).

For Vandoorne, who had been leading the championship so far, the race was only damage limitation: After a braking incident in qualifying, the Belgian only started from 20th place, but worked his way up to eighth place – that’s still four points, which could be decisive in the tight leading field in the end.

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