Live wire Nick Cassidy thrills at the Mexico City ePrix

NICK CASSIDY MEXICO CITY FORMULA E 10/1/26

Up until the closing stages of the Formula E round at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City, few would have been paying much attention to Nick Cassidy. But then came a masterclass in driving and strategy that resulted in victory for the New Zealander and Citroën, on just its second outing since parent company Stellantis rebranded its FE team from Maserati.

Cassidy had qualified in 13th and languished in midfield for much of the race. Eyebrows flickered and tempers frayed when his audacious move on António Félix da Costa at Turn 5 led to the sidelining of the Portuguese and the innocent Dan Ticktum. But that was only for eighth place, and just 13 laps remained.

Now Cassidy got on his Attack Mode – the power boost activated by driving off line, and to which each driver was allowed eight minutes of usage. That propelled the Citroën to the front with a small margin but, with Cassidy’s Attack Mode now spent, the rest began to come back at him.

Edoardo Mortara, Jake Dennis and Oliver Rowland were all on Attack Mode, and Cassidy had to position his car perfectly to repel them. Once Mortara was out of his power boost a couple of corners into the final lap, Cassidy was home free to defeat the Swiss-Italian driver’s Mahindra.

“This is unbelievable,” grinned Cassidy in his post-race interview with our own columnist Karun Chandhok, a fellow alumnus of the popular T-Sport Formula 3 team that did so much to give the then-penniless Kiwi one of the most important breaks of his career in 2014. “What a dream start we’ve had. For Citroën, what an entrance to Formula E.”

In rating his 12 FE wins, Cassidy added this one is “up there. I’m fortunate. In this championship there are so many good drivers and I’ve always had one of the best cars.”

That’s true but, while Cassidy is leading the points after two rounds, two-time champion team-mate Jean-Éric Vergne has a best result of eighth. The driver clearly made a difference in Mexico.

Driver briefing notes
Dario’s back but BMWs run riot in the Dubai 24 Hours

● BMW scored a 1-2 in the Dubai 24 Hours, with the WRT-run M4 of Jordan Pepper, Kelvin van der Linde, Ben Tuck, Fran Rueda and Anthony McIntosh, inset, beating its sister car by a lap. Dario Franchitti finished, albeit delayed by a suspension problem on his comeback in a shared Mercedes.

● Kalle Rovanperä’s single-seater adventure has begun in Toyota’s Formula Regional Oceania series in New Zealand. The rally king’s best result from the first eight races (over two rounds) was ninth at Taupo. American driver Ugo Ugochukwu, 18, led the points thanks to two wins at Hampton Downs.

● Meanwhile, back in the Middle East, some new F1 juniors from non-mainstream nations were winning at Yas Marina. Abu Dhabi native Rashid Al Dhaheri, a new Mercedes protégé, topped the Formula Regional Middle East standings, with Williams-backed Ukrainian Oleksandr Bondarev on top in the UAE4 Series.