Wehrlein: Victory will bring Porsche new confidence

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Mexico City E-Prix winner Pascal Wehrlein says that he hopes Porsche's long-awaited maiden victory in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will bring the squad new confidence and momentum for the 2021-22 season and beyond.

Starting from pole, Wehrlein led his team mate Andre Lotterer to the line at the Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez with a nine second advantage over their closest rivals.

"I‘ve come close to winning twice in Mexico in the past so I’m delighted that it worked this time," former F1 driver Wehrlein said after the finish. "The team had a great plan, although at first I wasn’t entirely sure it would work.

Read also: Porsche's Wehrlein and Lotterer sweep to 1-2 in Mexico E-Prix

"After last season, we were under pressure, of course. But we never lost hope, we knew we had a good package and that if everything came together perfectly in one weekend, we would win.

"That happened today. I hope this victory gives the team new confidence. If we can carry this momentum to the next races, then hopefully things will be a little easier for us from now on.”

Despite missing out on a chance to take the lead because of team strategy, Lotterer was also pleased to be part of the historic 1-2 for Porsche.

This is a great result for the team," he said. "Everyone has invested a lot of hard work. Last season with its ups and downs was not easy for us, but now everything has worked out.

"Both cars ran well from the first practice session. With this 1-2 result, we showed that we’re serious contenders for the world championship title.”

"It’s a banner day for Porsche," said Florian Modlinger, newly appointed project manager for the Porsche Formula E team. "The drivers did a flawless job and delivered the performance that we expect from them.

"The weekend ran perfectly, from the first free practice with André’s fastest time to Pascal’s pole-setting performance in qualifying through to this commanding one-two achievement in the race.

"Even when they initially lost positions, the team remained calm," he added. "In the closing phase, they were able to utilise the energy advantage they’d gained to work their way up the order again and clinch this one-two result by a big margin."

The result was also lauded by Michael Steiner a member of the Executive Board for Research and Development at Porsche.

“With this victory, Porsche’s Formula E project has achieved its first all-time high," Steiner said. "We’ve all worked towards this historic moment and we’ve invested an incredible amount of work and effort.

"After coming very close several times in the past, today we reaped the rewards for this. Congratulations to the whole team!"

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Andrew Lewin

Andrew first became a fan of Formula 1 during the time when Michael Schumacher and Damon Hill were stepping into the limelight after the era of Alain Prost, Nigel Mansell and Aryton Senna. He's been addicted ever since, and has been writing about the sport now for nearly a quarter of a century for a number of online news sites. He's also written professionally about GP2 (now Formula 2), GP3, IndyCar, World Rally Championship, MotoGP and NASCAR. In his other professional life, Andrew is a freelance writer, social media consultant, web developer/programmer, and digital specialist in the fields of accessibility, usability, IA, online communities and public sector procurement. He worked for many years in magazine production at Bauer Media, and for over a decade he was part of the digital media team at the UK government's communications department. Born and raised in Essex, Andrew currently lives and works in south-west London.