de Vries wins after intense wet/dry Tokyo E-Prix; full results here
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 3 hours ago
- 6 min read
Nyck de Vries took victory for Mahindra after an eventful Round 15 in Formula E in 2026, claiming a crucial victory at the Tokyo E-Prix. He would win out, ahead of Nick Cassidy and Jake Dennis, who joined him on the podium on Sunday.
Dennis now leads the championship standings after several big hitters failed to score, heading into his home event in London. With two rounds to go, the championship looks poised as ever, to go down to the final moments in London, an epic showdown on the cards.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland finished fourth, while Citroën's Jean-Éric Vergne rounded out the top five in Tokyo. Rowland's teammate Norman Nato finished sixth, while Envision's Sébastien Buemi finished seventh, with Porsche's Nico Müller, and the DS Penske duo of Maximilian Günther and Taylor Barnard rounding out the top 10 in an eventful race in Tokyo.
AS IT UNFOLDED - Formula E's Round 15 - Tokyo E-Prix
Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara commenced the 33-lap race from the front of the field, having aced the qualifying test in mixed conditions around the Tokyo Street Circuit. Alongside him would be Jaguar's António Félix da Costa, with Round 14 winner Dan Ticktum starting third on the grid.
Rain would have its say once again during the weekend. After FP3 was crashed out and qualifying commenced on a drying track, Round 15 would get underway on a damp surface at the Tokyo Street Circuit.
As was the case earlier in Shanghai and Miami this season, the race commenced under the safety car, with drivers trundling around the Tokyo streets for one lap, before taking to the standing start once again.
Off the five red lights, the top four made a clear getaway, even as Mortara fended off da Costa into Turn 1. The biggest gainers on the opening lap of racing were Evans and Norman Nato, who climbed past Nyck de Vries into fifth and sixth respectively.
da Costa immediately took attack mode on Lap 3, having dropped to 2.5 seconds behind race leader Mortara. He would fend off Ticktum into Turn 6, maintaining his position. Rowland and Wehrlein had also taken an early attack mode, in a bid to climb up the order and benefit from four-wheel drive on a wet track.
Having made his way past Mortara, da Costa extended his lead up front to nearly four seconds, with Jaguar radioing to him that he could expend energy early in the race.
Wehrlein would continue to gain positions, climbing past Rowland to sit sixth, albeit after taking six minutes of attack mode compared to the Nissan man's four.
Even as the race stabilised, da Costa had opened up a gap of almost four seconds to Mortara, who in turn sat four seconds clear of Ticktum's Cupra Kiro. The Briton would face pressure from the chasing Taylor Barnard and Evans, with Wehrlein now joining the battle.
Ticktum, who had been struggling for grip on the wet track, lost position to Barnard at Turn 1 on Lap 10, as Evans then added on the pressure from behind.
Mortara took his four minutes of attack mode onto Lap 14, in a bid to make up ground to race leader da Costa. As he closed down the gap, Barnard too remained close in third, with more energy than the top two ahead.
The yellow flag would be flown on Lap 15, upgraded to a full course yellow just as Mortara closed down on da Costa in attack mode. This interruption was caused by an incident between Sébastien Buemi and Pepe Martí, with the Spanish driver put into the wall at Turn 17. He marked the first DNF of the race.
Evans, though, had made his way up to fourth, going ahead of Ticktum's Cupra Kiro before the full course yellow period.
As the drivers returned to normal racing, Mortara shaped up for a charge on da Costa for the lead. He wouldn't be able to get the Portuguese driver on the restart, but would have to watch out for Barnard in attack mode in the following laps.
As the top two squabbled on the track, Barnard closed in on his attack mode, claiming positions on Mortara into Turn 9, and then moving past da Costa with an excellent overtake into Turn 17 to claim the lead. Ticktum too made his way up to fourth in attack mode.
The battling for the championship kicked off when Evans took his first four minutes of attack mode, as he rejoined between the chasing Rowland and Wehrlein on Lap 20.
While he quickly passed Wehrlein through Turn 7, he would be met with the staunch defence from the Nissan man, who held firm into Turns 10/11 before keeping his position to the Jaguar man for the rest of the race.
With this trio closing up to the leading pair, it was now a group of seven cars all forming the lead pack, as Jean-Éric Vergne now sat close behind the championship contenders.
Rowland had begun to pick up the pace, moving past Ticktum and Mortara with a brace of excellent overtakes. Another pass on da Costa put him up into second, only behind the DS Penske of Barnard now.
Vergne too made up positions onto Lap 25, passing Ticktum for fifth, even as de Vries moved up into sixth after utilising his first attack mode of the day.
As the track dried out, several drivers came alive over teh course of the race, with Mortara losing the most ground as he dropped down to eighth on a drying circuit. Nick Cassidy had risen to seventh, while teammate Vergne had now challenged Barnard for second, despite the Briton being in attack mode.
de Vries had risen up into third onto Lap 28, as the race slowly headed towards its closing stages. The Dutchman then climbed past into second, while Vergne made his way past the DS Penske of Barnard to sit third.
Several drivers behind took their final attack mode, including the likes of da Costa and Mortara, in an attempts to make up ground and keep their title battles alive. However, the fight was now between de Vries and Cassidy for the win, even as Rowland went into attack mode on Lap 30.
With one more added lap in the race, Andretti's Jake Dennis had now climbed up to fourth, looking to utilise his six minutes of attack mode in a bit to claim victory. He would close in on both de Vries and Cassidy, with the fight only set to intensify in an important weekend for the championship.
Rowland had managed to climb up into fourth once again. However, the red flag would be called out on the penultimate lap, for a serial collision at Turn 7. Envision Racing's Joel Eriksson attempted to pass Mortara, however, his left rear tyre clipped Mortara's front wing, with both drivers tagged across the circuit.
Several others would be caught up in the incident, including da Costa, Ticktum and both Lola cars of Lucas di Grassi and Zane Maloney. Vergne would also mistakenly go onto the starting grid instead of the pit lane, prompting an investigation from the stewards for the same.
Race director Marek Hanaczewski later prompted to the drivers that a rolling start would be taken up, with just one lap of racing left.
Neither Mortara nor Eriksson would make it back to the restart, as the drivers returned to racing with one lap to go. de Vries still led away from Cassidy, with Dennis still hunting the top two down after losing an prime opportunity to secure the lead.
Evans stopped on track in the run down to Turn 15, with neither Jaguar driver finishing in the points, apart from Wehrlein. Meanwhile, up ahead, de Vries claimed his second win of the season under the lights, ahead of Cassidy and Dennis.
Classification - Round 15 - Tokyo E-Prix
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Norman Nato (Nissan)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Max Günther (DS Penske)
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Mitch Evans (Jaguar) - DNF
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing) - DNF
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing) - DNF
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro) - DNF
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