MONTE CARLO: Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi claimed a long-awaited and dramatic victory at the second Monaco E-Prix of the weekend on Sunday, ending a six-year winless streak and securing his third career triumph in the principality.

Starting from eighth on a soaked Monte Carlo grid, the Swiss driver, Formula E’s Season 2 champion, delivered a measured, tactical drive through the field to take the checkered flag.

The win marks his first since New York City in 2019, a span of 78 races, and lifts Envision off the bottom of the overall team standings.

“I thought I would never win again at some points, so you know you need a bit of luck, you need the right timing, you need the right car, a good team, and today everything just came together, so I’m so happy,” he said.

“I’m actually speechless because you know it’s been a long time. It was obviously quite tricky at the beginning with the fight with Antonio (Felix da Costa) and Max (Guenther), but in the end the timing of the Attack Mode was good, I was able to make a gap and I was safe when Oli (Rowland) took his second one.

“I was able to read where the track was drying up, especially in turns three and four, there was lots of lap time to be gained, but you needed the confidence and today I had it. I thought that my number of wins would never change but it did today, so I’m very proud,” he added.

Behind him, Nissan’s Rowland delivered another strong performance to finish second and extend his lead at the top of the FIA Formula E Drivers’ World Championship.

The Brit’s aggressive attempt to overtake Jean-Eric Vergne at the chicane on lap 21 ultimately altered the race’s complexion.

Rowland was later required to cede the position after being deemed to have forced the DS Penske driver off track — a moment that allowed Buemi and Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries to capitalize.

Rowland smartly reclaimed momentum by returning the position to Vergne while simultaneously activating his final mandatory 50kW Attack Mode. This allowed him to surge back past both Vergne and de Vries for second place by lap 24, finishing just over four seconds behind the winner.

Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy completed the podium with a storming drive from 14th to third, his first top-three result of the season, managing energy expertly to gain ground in the closing stages.

In fourth, da Costa was the highest-placed Porsche, followed by de Vries in fifth and a frustrated Vergne in sixth after leading much of the race before the pivotal lap 21 incident.

The result sees Rowland head to Nissan’s home race in Tokyo on 115 points, with da Costa trailing on 67.

Porsche holds a narrow lead in the team standings on 133 points to Nissan’s 126, but Nissan tops the FIA Manufacturers’ Championship with 191 points to Porsche’s 163.

The action returns in two weeks for a Tokyo doubleheader in Odaiba on May 17 and 18.

MONACO: Mahindra Racing recorded its strongest result of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season to date with a second-place finish in the opening Monaco E-Prix on Saturday.

Nyck de Vries secured a runner-up finish in the Principality behind eventual winner Oliver Roland of Nissan, while team-mate Edoardo Mortara crossed the line in fourth, moving Mahindra up to third in both the Teams’ and Manufacturers’ standings.

Jake Dennis scored the third and final podium sport for Andretti.

The team had arrived in Monaco on the back of nine consecutive points finishes and a perfect Duels qualification record so far in Season 11 with its M11Electro car.

That consistency continued in qualifying, where de Vries advanced to the Semi-Finals and secured fourth on the grid. Mortara qualified ninth, giving Mahindra two cars in the top 10.

De Vries made a strong start, moving into third at the first corner before managing his race through two full-course yellow periods, a mandatory PIT BOOST stop – which requires a 34-second stationary recharge – and two Attack Mode activations. He moved into second in the closing stages and held position to the flag despite late pressure from behind.

“I’m very happy to be on the podium today, especially in front of my family and friends here in Monaco,” said de Vries. “The car was excellent, and we executed a very strong race strategically, so the whole team deserve a lot of credit for the work that we’ve done.

“Tomorrow is another day, and another race, but we’ll enjoy this result, and it’s great to have some confirmation of the progress we’re continuing to make, and a reward for the work we’ve done so far. We know the next steps will be harder, but this is encouraging.”

Mortara also moved forward through the race despite running with minor front wing damage following contact from another car. He climbed from ninth on the grid to fifth by managing his energy and using the PIT BOOST period to gain track position. He passed Nico Mueller on the final lap to take fourth.

“It’s a strong result for the team, and I was very happy to come through the field and score some good points today,” said Mortara. “Even with some minor damage, we were able to make progress and fight towards the front, which is very encouraging and another sign we are on the right path with our development of this new package.

“It’s a great start to the weekend, and hopefully we can have another positive result tomorrow.”

Team Principal and CEO Frederic Bertrand praised the team’s performance and execution, particularly under the new PIT BOOST format that was introduced this season.

“These are the days we’ve been working towards as a team, and it’s important to enjoy them whilst also being hungry for more,” said Bertrand.

“Today was a great example of what we have been building. We’ve extended our run of qualifying for the Duels and scoring points in every race this season, and I was particularly pleased to see not only how Nyck was able to fight at the front, but how Edo moved through the pack despite some small damage.

“PIT BOOST races are still a bit of an unknown for the whole paddock, but our engineers and mechanics executed a great strategy, and we were able to use it to our advantage again, as we did in Jeddah.

“Overall, a very pleasing result. It’s always nice to end the day with a trophy, but our focus remains to keep up this level of performance consistently and keep being ambitious and aim for even higher.”

Mahindra will return to action on Sunday for the second Monaco E-Prix of the weekend.