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Ticktum holds off Mortara for maiden Formula E victory
Dan Ticktum claimed his first win in Formula E, fending off a hard-charging Edoardo Mortara in the Jakarta E-Prix.
The two emerged as contenders for the victory in the dry but dusty race – the rain that had been forecast failing to come – after longtime race leader and polesitter Jake Dennis was hit by Nyck de Vries.
Dennis – who’d only led six laps all season before Saturday’s race – led 23 of 38 laps, only ceding the lead during Attack Mode phases. de Vries had attempted a move for the lead on the Andretti driver at Turn 1 on lap 22, while having use of the extra 50kW and four-wheel-drive from Attack Mode while Dennis didn't. Mahindra man de Vries couldn't fully capitalize on that power advantage though and Dennis had the inside covered.
A lap later de Vries attempted a similar move, but again Dennis covered the inside so de Vries switched to the outside and was ahead, but chopped across before the move was fully completed, damaging Dennis' front wing.
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That FCY ended with four laps to go, and while Mortara spent those final laps right on the tail of Ticktum, the Brit remained resolute out in front.
Mortara had earlier been hit by Sebastien Buemi, who finished third on the road but dropped to eighth after the race after receiving a penalty for causing the collision. That promoted Nico Mueller to third, giving him his first podium for Andretti.
Fourth went to TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa, with Nick Cassidy fifth for Jaguar TCS Racing, his progress being halted by his first Attack Mode coinciding with the safety car, preventing him from fully capitalizing on it.
NEOM McLaren's Taylor Barnard finished fifth and sixth, despite drama for both in the Attack Mode activation zone. Barnard clipped the wall as he emerged from his second run into the wider line at Turn 16, while Bird's own second activation wasn't registered as he failed to go through the zone correctly.
Behind his Envision Racing teammate Buemi – who snatched a bonus point for the fastest lap – Robin Frijns took ninth, with Nissan’s Oliver Rowland in the final points-paying position in 10th.
Rowland was seventh on the road but received a penalty for causing a collision with DS Penske’s Maximilian Guenther at Turn 13 on lap 6. While Guenther ended up in the wall and subsequently retired, there was, in fact, no contact between the two.
Joining Guenther in retiring early were the two Maserati MSG Racing entries of Jake Hughes and Stoffel Vandoorne along with de Vries, the latter three all dropping out within two laps of one another.
Hughes came to a stop at Turn 1 on lap 30 with a terminal battery temperature alarm, bringing out the aforementioned first FCY of the day, while Vandoorne suffered a heavy shunt into the wall at Turn 16 on lap 32. It was on that lap where de Vries, who'd already dropped out of winning contention after receiving a 10-second penalty for his collision with Dennis, came to a stop at Turn 7 with what the team described as a "thermal issue", not believed to be with a team-specific part.
Ticktum’s maiden Formula E win came on his 60th start, and was his first race victory of any kind since the 2021 Formula 2 race at Sochi. For the team, it was its first under the Cupra Kiro banner, and its first since Season 1 when the team – then known as NEXTEV TCR – triumphed with Nelson Piquet Jr. in Moscow en route to that season’s title.
While a low scoring day for championship leader Rowland, he managed to extend his advantage at the top of the table to 69 points after nearest challenger, reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein finished just outside the points in 11th. The two made contact at Turn 7 on lap 27 after the Porsche driver went late on the brakes. The incident was investigated but no further action was taken.
Da Costa remains in third, but has closed to within three points of teammate Wehrlein, while Ticktum vaults from 10th to fifth, behind Barnard, dropping Jean-Eric Vernge to sixth. Vergne finished the race in Jakarta down in 16th after receiving a penalty for contact with Mitch Evans early in the race.
TAG Heuer Porsche went into the weekend just one point ahead of Nissan in the teams' standings, but now holds a 12 point lead, while the Japanese brand's advantage in the manufacturers' standings shrinks from 26 points to four.
Just four races of the 2024-25 Formula E season remain, with two doubleheaders still to come – firstly in Berlin in three weeks time, then London on July 26-27.
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Dominik Wilde
Dominik often jokes that he was born in the wrong country – a lover of NASCAR and IndyCar, he covered both in a past life as a junior at Autosport in the UK, but he’s spent most of his career to date covering the sliding and flying antics of the U.S.’ interpretation of rallycross. Rather fitting for a man that says he likes “seeing cars do what they’re not supposed to do”, previously worked for a car stunt show, and once even rolled a rally car with Travis Pastrana. He was also comprehensively beaten in a kart race by Sebastien Loeb once, but who hasn’t been?
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