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Jake Boxall-Legge

Seoul E-Prix: Vandoorne claims Formula E title, Mortara wins season finale

Vandoorne only needed to finish ahead of Evans to cement the title having gone into the race with a 21-point lead, and his job was made considerably easier as Evans only qualified 13th and had work to do to make up the gap.

But the Belgian continued the imperious form he has shown throughout the year, not putting a foot wrong and bringing it home in third place to cement the title - which became second as Jake Dennis was slapped with a five-second penalty for contact with polesitter Antonio Felix da Costa at Turn 22.

Vandoorne's title triumph was also complemented with Mercedes' second successive teams' title, as it signs off from its three-season foray in Formula E on a high.

Mortara's victory was the perfect antidote to a difficult spell across the previous three races, although Venturi just fell short of battling for the teams' title, and the Swiss driver phenomenally took the lead with a scintillating dive on da Costa at the end of the second lap - and was followed through by Dennis.

He wasted no time in building a lead over Dennis, and was left relatively untroubled by the Avalanche Andretti driver in the opening laps of the race. A one-second gap by the end of lap 5 was almost up to two seconds a few laps later, and it continued to grow until a safety car wiped out his advantage.

Gunther's stranded Nissan on the back straight, after the German had suffered steering damage, required a recovery vehicle to clear it off the track and thus prompted the safety car in the middle part of the race.

After a lengthy safety car, which resulted in six minutes and 45 seconds of added time being tacked on to the end of the race, Mortara charged off at the lap 19 restart and left Dennis in his wake.

Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02, Jake Dennis, Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21, Antonio Felix da Costa, DS Techeetah, DS E-Tense FE21 (Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images)

He built enough of a gap to immediately claim his second attack mode to reinstate his comfortable lead, and was helped by da Costa and Dennis coming to blows at Turn 22 - where Dennis left the front of his Andretti down the inside and tapped the Portuguese driver into the wall.

The incident was quickly thrust under investigation and, although Mortara was able to extend the gap to over three seconds, Dennis invested his energy into catching up in anticipation of a time penalty.

Dennis was duly given the five seconds in penance, which eased the pressure on Mortara and allowed the Geneva-born driver to cruise to victory in Formula E's 100th race.

Vandoorne was classified 3.7s behind Mortara, with second more than ample to cement his first championship win since the 2015 GP2 Series, having moved up a position when da Costa dropped to the back after his skirmish with Dennis.

Dennis nonetheless built enough of a gap over Robin Frijns in fourth to stand on the podium, while Oliver Askew capped off an excellent day for Andretti with fifth place - granting the American squad sixth in the teams' championship, beating next year's powertrain supplier Porsche.

Edoardo Mortara, Venturi Racing, Silver Arrow 02, Jake Dennis, Andretti Motorsport, BMW iFE.21 (Photo by: Andrew Ferraro / Motorsport Images)

Jean-Eric Vergne was sixth ahead of Evans, who could only finish seventh after a disappointing qualifying proved fatal to his slim championship chances.

Nick Cassidy claimed the fastest lap and finished eighth ahead of Sebastien Buemi, while da Costa recovered from his Turn 22 scuffle to finish in 10th - as Sergio Sette Camara was dropped out of the points for weaving in front of Jaguar stand-in Norman Nato.

Lucas di Grassi sustained a puncture and could only finish 11th, which rocked Venturi's teams' title chances considerably, while Alexander Sims recovered from his 60-place grid penalty to end his Formula E career in 12th.

Formula E Seoul E-Prix II - Race Results

Cla Driver Team Laps Time Gap Interval
1 Switzerland Edoardo Mortara Monaco Venturi 34 53'31.680    
2 Belgium Stoffel Vandoorne Germany Mercedes 34 53'35.436 3.756 3.756
3 United Kingdom Jake Dennis United States Andretti Autosport 34 53'38.329 6.649 2.893
4 Netherlands Robin Frijns United Kingdom Virgin Racing 34 53'38.701 7.021 0.372
5 United States Oliver Askew United States Andretti Autosport 34 53'39.530 7.850 0.829
6 France Jean-Eric Vergne France Techeetah 34 53'41.151 9.471 1.621
7 New Zealand Mitch Evans United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 34 53'41.923 10.243 0.772
8 New Zealand Nick Cassidy United Kingdom Virgin Racing 34 53'45.888 14.208 3.965
9 Switzerland Sébastien Buemi France DAMS 34 53'48.309 16.629 2.421
10 Portugal Antonio Felix da Costa France Techeetah 34 53'53.906 22.226 5.597
11 Brazil Lucas di Grassi Monaco Venturi 34 53'56.226 24.546 2.320
12 United Kingdom Alexander Sims India Mahindra Racing 34 53'58.193 26.513 1.967
13 Brazil Sergio Sette Camara United States Dragon Racing 34 53'59.493 27.813 1.300
14 France Norman Nato United Kingdom Jaguar Racing 34 54'03.206 31.526 3.713
15 United Kingdom Oliver Turvey United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 34 54'03.245 31.565 0.039
16 France Sacha Fenestraz United States Dragon Racing 34 54'07.950 36.270 4.705
  Germany Maximilian Gunther France DAMS 12 18'32.105 22 Laps 22 Laps
  Netherlands Nyck de Vries Germany Mercedes 7 10'51.512 27 Laps 5 Laps
  Germany Pascal Wehrlein Germany Porsche Team 6 8'59.444 28 Laps 1 Lap
  United Kingdom Dan Ticktum United Kingdom NIO Formula E Team 2 3'11.308 32 Laps 4 Laps
  United Kingdom Oliver Rowland India Mahindra Racing 0 35.968 34 Laps 2 Laps
  Germany Andre Lotterer Germany Porsche Team 0 18.905 34 Laps  
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