Pascal Wehrlein scored critical points again with his Porsche 99X Electric in the second night race at the Diriyah E-Prix. Competing for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, the Porsche works driver and winner of the season-opening race in Mexico finished seventh on the street circuit northwest of Riyadh.

The drivers had to save very little energy over the 36 laps of round three of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Although this made overtaking on the demanding 2.495-kilometre circuit even trickier, Pascal Wehrlein made up three places in the race. His teammate António Félix da Costa (POR) advanced even further up the field: after struggling in qualifying, he battled his way up the order from 21st on the grid to 14th at the flag.

Following yesterday’s victory in the Porsche 99X Electric fielded by the Porsche customer team Andretti Formula E, Jake Dennis (GBR) also lost his chance of clinching another top qualifying result. Tackling the race from P14, the reigning world champion crossed the finish line in tenth place, only to be handed a five-second penalty which relegated him to twelfth. In 16th place, his teammate Norman Nato (FRA) also went home empty-handed.

With 38 points, Pascal Wehrlein is the best Porsche driver, ranking second in the drivers’ standings of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship behind Nick Cassidy (NZL/57). Jake Dennis (28) sits fourth, with Norman Nato (9) in 13th. Jaguar leads the teams' standings with 78 points ahead of DS Penske (47) and the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team (38). Andretti Formula E (37) occupies fourth place.

Comments on the Diriyah E-Prix, Race 3
Florian Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E: “Let’s start with the positives: Pascal has finished in the points in the last 14 races. In Formula E, that’s an incredibly strong performance. But we’re not happy with this second race day with only one Porsche in the top 10. Pascal scored important points by manoeuvring up to seventh place with some bold overtaking moves. Unfortunately, he was the only Porsche in the points today. We have our poor qualifying performance to blame for this result. We have to work on that. That’ll be our key focus during the break until São Paulo.”

Pascal Wehrlein, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team (#94): “Overall, it was a sobering weekend for us. We simply lacked the pace in qualifying. When the best Porsche is in tenth place, that’s obviously not good enough and falls considerably short of where we aim to be. In the race itself, my speed wasn’t too bad and I made some moves to get up the order. We definitely have a lot of work ahead of us. In this respect, the seven-week break until the race in São Paulo will certainly come in handy.”

António Félix da Costa, TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team (#13): “What a disappointing day. We’re racking our brains to understand why things are going the way they are. But I’ve never been one to give up and I’ll do everything I can to get out of this difficult situation as quickly as possible.”

Next up
The next event for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team and Andretti Formula E is the São Paulo E-Prix on 16 March, the 4th round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.

Porsche in Formula E
The TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team heads into its fifth Formula E season with the Weissach-developed Porsche 99X Electric. With four victories for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, 2023 was the most successful year since the sports car manufacturer entered the all-electric racing series. Since last season, Porsche has supported the customer team, Andretti Formula E, which promptly won the world championship title with the Porsche 99X Electric and Jake Dennis. With the all-electric Taycan Turbo S, Porsche again supplies the official safety car in 2024, thus underlining the importance of Formula E for Porsche Motorsport.