Team Avalanche Andretti driver Jake Dennis won the opening round of the 2022-2023 Formula E season, held in Mexico. The event, officially opened at the Hernanes Rodrigues Autodrome in Mexico City on Saturday (1/14), was also the first race with the new Gen 3 Formula E car, replacing the previous Gen 2 car that had been used since the 2018-2019 season.
From the qualifying session, Dennis dominated the Formula E race in Mexico and won the opening round with a significant gap, and also achieved the fastest lap.
Dennis managed to lead by 7 seconds from Porsche driver, Pascal Wehrlein, who had to settle for second place. Meanwhile, the third position was taken by Mahindra Racing driver, Lucas di Grassi, who actually started from the pole position.
First race of Season 9 ✅#MexicoCityEPrix
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) January 14, 2023
However, the 2016-2017 Formula E world champion performed poorly in the race and nearly ran out of energy towards the end of the race. The race was also marked by two safety car periods involving Robin Frijns on the first lap and Sam Bird on lap 10.
Robin Frijns, who is now part of the ABT Cuprai team, was confirmed to have broken his hand after his car collided with Norman Nato, requiring hospitalization for surgery.
The defending champion, Stoffel Vandoorne, also had a tough luck as he races with the new DS Penske team after Mercedes EQ announced its withdrawal from Formula E at the end of the last season. From the start, Vandoorne performed poorly, starting from 14th position and finishing in 10th place. Vandoorne’s team mate, Jean Eric Vergne, also only finished in 12th place, failing to score points in this opening round.
