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Oliver Rowland dominates Jeddah E-Prix ahead of Barnard and Hughes in all-British top four

Writer's picture: Fleur RogersonFleur Rogerson

Written by Fleur Rogerson


Oliver Rowland dominated the Jeddah E-Prix, making the complicated lead seem easy to the Brit as he charged home to take his second win of the season. Behind him, Barnard finished with yet another podium, and Hughes finished off an all-Brit podium.


Formula E completed its Jeddah double header.
Credit: Simon Galloway

With Taylor Barnard starting on pole as the youngest ever polesitter, Rowland and Hughes behind him were looking to overtake him at the start.


The car lined up on the grid and completed their burnouts, with an issue on Zane Maloney's Lola delaying the start by a few moments. But with the issue fixed, the red lights went off, and the grid dove to the first corner.


Barnard's McLaren held the lead but Jake Hughes made a move on Oliver Rowland, moved past the Nissan and up into second place. Further down the grid, da Costa made up places with Maximilian Günther on his tail.


Günther dove down the inside of da Costa and hit it into turn 4, taking both cars out of the race as they limped back to the pits.


Lucas Di Grassi activated his attack mode on lap 4, slowly climbing through the field. He made his way up into second as his attack mode was running out, finding himself on Barnard's gearbox but unable to get past.


Pascal Wehrlein followed in Di Grassi's footsteps, determined to climb his way into the points after a poor qualifying. Oliver Rowland swapped into the lead with Barnard behind him and Jean-éric Vergne moving into third place.


Wehrlein showed the power of the attack mode, finding himself up from 13th to third. Barnard felt on the ranks, finding himself no match for the cars in attack mode around him.


Nick Cassidy also had made gains after a difficult weekend, finding himself in the top ten.


Buemi brought his envision into the pit lane with an issue on the car. Vergne was closing in on the back of the Nissan but was then at risk to Taylor Barnard behind him, who made a move up into second.


Robin Frijns, with his attack mode activated, took the lead of the race, making his way past Rowland. Further down the grid, Sam Bird received a penalty for not following the race director's instructions.


Oliver Rowland and Jake Hughes both activated their attack modes, with Rowland only choosing to use two minutes. Leaving him with six minutes to use later in the race. Barnard and Jean-Éric Vergne both then chose to use their attack modes, hoping to get themselves back to the front of the grid.



Halfway through


Rowland managed to grow the gap out front to a strong 1.1 seconds to Taylor Barnard in the second. However, Barnard had access to his attack mode and quickly closed the gap down and made an overtake into turn one into the lead on lap 17.


The Jaguars, who had both had a difficult weekend and season start, found themselves in sixth and seventh, hoping to claim some points.


On lap 19, lap times began to fall, and the drivers began to fight for the lead. Oliver Rowland took the lead once again, taking it from Taylor Barnard, but the gap remained just 0.3 seconds between the frontrunners.


Rowland also found himself with more energy than others on the grid, putting himself in a strong position for the final half of the race.


Cassidy was the only driver to have used both of his attack modes, finding himself in third. However, he was at risk of losing places in the second half, with those around him with four minutes left in their attack modes.


Jake Dennis, with his Andretti, was climbing through the field and found himself in second. Dennis had the same amount of energy remaining as Rowland, and down the inside, he went into turn 13, moving into the lead.


Rowland moved to the side, ready to take his final attack mode. Behind Dennis, Rowland was closing in, but Dennis was holding position.


Mitch Evans pulled into the pits and retired his car, suffering another weekend with no points.



Final four laps


Oliver Rowland, with his six minutes of attack mode, made the move past Jake Dennis and returned to the lead. Jean-Éric Vergne was closing on the back of Dennis but didn't seem able to pass him as Barnard made a move on both Verge and Dennis into second.


Hughes moved into fourth with an extra minute of attack mode over those in front of him, keeping in contention for a podium. He moved into third place, but going into the final lap, he needed to make fast moves to make the most of the attack mode.


Barnard pushed Hughes wide as they went two wide into the corner of the turn 1. Hughes then ran out of attack mode, putting Barnad and Hughes on the same playing field.


Rowland had a three-second gap into the final lap. Barnard seemed to hold position, Hughes close onto the back of the McLaren, Barnard had the lead covered, but Jake Dennis was making a move into fourth. Hughes managed to hold off Andretti from taking third.


With a top three of Brits, Oliver Rowland charged to win from Taylor Barnard and Jake Hughes.


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