Maximilian Günther in the #28 BMW i Andretti Motorsport iFE.21 started and finished fifth as the ABB Formula E series ran on the Monaco street circuit on May 8. His teammate Jake Dennis, coming off a win in Valencia, finished sixteenth after he was caught in a collision early in the race.
Günther ran near the front of the pack in a very intense race in the Principality. He challenged for third near the end, but light late-race contact with Nissan’s Oliver Rowland set him back to fifth. He hung on to the position in heavy traffic to score ten points for himself and his team. Dennis started fourteenth, but a contact incident on lap one that was not his fault sent him to the back of the pack. He recovered, and finished seventeenth on the circuit after he was penalized for excessive energy use. He was later reclassified sixteenth as Porsche’s Andre Lotterer was penalized and moved down in the standings.
The win in Monaco went to António Félix da Costa in the #13 DS Techeetah car. His dramatic last-lap pass in the Nouvelle Chicane on Jaguar’s Mitch Evans took him into the lead. Envision Virgin’s Robin Frijns followed him by Evans; he was able to hold off Evans’ Jaguar for second.
The Monaco race marked the halfway point in the season. The series now takes a six-week break, with competition resuming with rounds eight and nine in Puebla, Mexico on June 19–20.
After Monaco, BMW i Andretti was fifth in team points, while Dennis was tenth in drivers’ points, and Günther was sixteenth.
Andretti team principal Roger Griffiths said, “It was fantastic to be back here in Monaco and race on the full track. It’s been a day of mixed fortunes for our two drivers. Fifth place for Maximilian after P5 in qualifying is a very good result. It’s important for him to be back in the points and it’s also a good finish for the team. Unfortunately for Jake it wasn’t the strong result we had hoped for after such an impressive weekend in Valencia. We go into the six-week break now and look forward to continuing our progression up the standings.” —Brian Morgan
[Photo courtesy BMW Motorsport.]