Amid torrid conditions, Jaguar TCS Racing’s Nick Cassidy converted from pole, leading every lap of the race to produce a first win of the season in the 2025 Hankook Shanghai E-Prix Round 11 at a rain-soaked Shanghai International Circuit.
Cassidy had topped a weather-truncated Groups-only qualifying session to seal pole and strode away into an immediate lead, where he was able to stay for the duration of Round 11 in tricky conditions as the rain continued to fall – though less heavily than throughout the morning. The win was a first lights-to-flag victory of the GEN3 Evo era and a return to the top step for the New Zealander.
Reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein got the better of his teammate through the first round of ATTACK MODE activations; the German leading home António Félix da Costa despite an early slip, as TAG Heuer Porsche capitalised on a Nissan non-score to round out the podium and propel the Stuttgart marque to the top of the FIA Teams’ World Championship table – a full reversal after TAG Heuer Porsche failed to score on Saturday.
Jake Hughes (Maserati MSG Racing) brought it home fourth, Jean-Éric Vergne (DS PENSKE) fifth and Nico Mueller (Andretti) finished sixth. The second Maserati of Stoffel Vandoorne finished seventh despite pirouetting two laps from the chequered flag, ahead of Robin Frijns (Envision Racing), Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT) and NEOM McLaren’s Taylor Barnard. The difficult conditions caught out a number of other drivers including Jake Dennis, Nyck de Vries, Dan Ticktum and Sam Bird with standing water significant in spots around the circuit throughout the race. Even so, 21 of the 22 cars managed to make it to the end of the race as their racecraft was pushed to the limit.
The results sees Rowland’s lead reduce to 68 points over Pascal Wehrlein (103 points), with da Costa in third (88 points) with only five races remaining this season. Porsche retakes the top spot in the FIA Teams’ World Championship running from Nissan, while Nissan leads Porsche in the FIA Manufacturers’ World Championship standings.
Nick Cassidy, No. 37, Jaguar TCS Racing said:
“This weekend is a massive highlight. Really proud of all our guys. Qualifying form yesterday was huge for us, we were in the game, and I’m just proud that we’ve come back today and our pace was absolutely unbelievable – what a race. I feel like there have been so many wins that probably should have been ours at the end of last season that never happened, and it feels like we’ve been waiting a long time. That’s certainly on your mind when you go through the last couple of laps, and now to get that monkey off the back is awesome.”
Pascal Wehrlein, No. 94, TAG Heuer Porsche said:
“Very tricky conditions especially in the beginning, I think it got a little bit better towards the end, but our pace was good. Not good enough for P1, but quite far ahead of the guys behind. Personally I’m very happy about the result today because today was the first time that I felt like we were very competitive in the wet, which wasn’t the case in Tokyo and Monaco. I think we’ve found a good way there and in the end a happy ending for us.”
António Félix da Costa, No. 13, TAG Heuer Porsche said:
“It was very hard from inside the car – I felt like my balance wasn’t quite there and I really struggled with my rears, so it wasn’t enjoyable and it was very hard to keep the car on track. I was slow to be honest, but good enough for a podium – two cars from the team are on the podium so that’s always positive. I’m happy for Nick [Cassidy], he did a really good job, but we’ve got good points. Starting second and finishing third is not ideal – in the beginning I thought we had something, but then it was clear to me that I didn’t have the pace of the two cars in front, so it was all about bringing the podium home.”
