April 25, 2021
Jake Dennis (BMW i Andretti Motorsport) produced a perfectly poised drive in the DHL Valencia E-Prix Round 6 to take a measured maiden win in Formula E, heading home Porsche's Andre Lotterer and Mahindra Racing's Alex Lynn.
The 25-year-old led lights-to-flag - a tough task given the Circuit Ricardo Tormo's high-speed nature and its energy management demands.
With the focus on managing usable energy, the majority of the 24 drivers looked to play the long game and make their progress during ATTACK MODE and towards the end of the encounter where those who'd looked after their usable energy most effectively tried to make it count.
Dennis held fast and even managed a 1.5-second gap to Lotterer to the chequered flag, while the Porsche driver broke his duck to notch his first podium, and maiden points, of Season 7.
Leader Dennis had played a blinder as he retained the lead through the first round of ATTACK MODE. The rookie was also able to match the rest in terms of energy consumption, despite having to the hard work of cutting through the air at the front of the field.
Energy management came to the fore as the clock ticked down. Dennis’ engineer radioed to tell the leader to lose a second through the final sector to ensure a flat-out final lap rather than an energy-conservative two-lap run as the clock ticked down.
Dennis retained his composure to manage things perfectly all the way to the chequered flag, with Lotterer coming home second and Lynn recovering to third.
Jake Dennis, BMW i Andretti Motorsport Driver:
"I’m honestly over the moon! I really didn’t think it was going to work out, having to lead every single lap going into the race – leading was something nobody wanted to do and nobody thought it was possible."
"It was a game of poker and he (Lynn) followed every move I made. We were just showing our hand a little bit and we knew it was going to be difficult on energy at the end but our strategy was perfect and we made it a lap shorter so we could flat-out race at the end.
"So, we managed to lead every single lap and it showed just how efficient we are and the car was really good on race pace. The team did a great job of telling me when to push and when to save to hit our targets. It helped that we were super-efficient out-front, even with a headwind – that just shows what an incredible job the team have done with this car.
"It was an incredible result for everyone back in the factory and here in the garage who’ve worked so hard – it’s an amazing achievement getting my first pole and win."
