Nyck de Vries after his victory on a dramatic Formula E Sunday in Tokyo: "I’d like to thank the gods"

Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries triumphed in Tokyo on Sunday! The second race of the double-header once again provided plenty of drama and turned the Drivers’ World Championship on its head once more. In changeable conditions, de Vries kept his nerve and secured his second win of the season.

In fact, it was his team-mate Edoardo Mortara who was best placed to win. Whilst de Vries started the race from 5th place, Mortara began from pole position. On a wet track, Mortara initially let only Antonio Felix da Costa pass him. For a long time, it looked as though the Jaguar driver and the Swiss driver would battle it out for victory between themselves.

Tyre pressure makes the difference once again

Around lap 20, both Mortara and Felix da Costa fell back and subsequently played no further part in the battle for victory. De Vries, on the other hand, held back for a long time but remained consistently within the top 10. His team had opted for tyre pressure suitable for dry conditions.

Shortly before the end of the race, this strategic move clearly paid off for him. With the track now dry, the seventh-season world champion quickly worked his way up the field and suddenly found himself in contention for victory with four laps to go. He managed to hold off Nick Cassidy and a strong Jake Dennis, who was making his way up the field from the back. A race interruption two laps from the end, triggered by Mortara, helped him do so.

The Swiss driver had dropped back into the lower midfield before the end of the race and collided with Joel Eriksson, blocking the track. Even after the restart, de Vries kept his nerve and secured his and Mahindra’s second victory of the season. Overall, it was his sixth victory in Formula E.

"We were very lucky today"

De Vries summed up his race in a post-race interview as follows: "I’d like to thank the gods. We were very lucky today. The start was a bit of a struggle at first. We were banking on a dry track, which, in hindsight, worked in our favour. At the start, it was very important to save energy so that we could use it once the track had dried out."

"We were also a bit lucky with the red flag," he added. "Jake was very strong in Attack Mode. On the final lap, it was simply a case of not making any mistakes. All in all, I’m very proud of the team. We drove a good race and secured our second win of the season."

In three weeks’ time, London is set to host a thrilling finale, after the battle for the Drivers’ World Championship took a new turn following the Tokyo round. As is well known, the season finale will take place on 15 and 16 August at the ExCeL London circuit for the last time, before the series moves to Brands Hatch next year.