Taylor Barnard wrote his name into the record books on Sunday. The DS PENSKE driver claimed his maiden Formula E victory in Round 17 at the ExCeL London, becoming the youngest-ever race winner in the series at 22 years and 76 days old, in a chaotic season finale that will be remembered as much for its drama as for its new champion.
While Pascal Wehrlein secured his second Drivers’ World Championship, the on-track story belonged to the young Brit and the Mahindra Racing pair who led the charge at the front. Barnard managed his late ATTACK MODE activation to pass Edoardo Mortara for second before making a nail-biting pass up the inside of Nyck de Vries into the final corner with just two laps remaining.
A master win in DS Automobiles’ final appearance
For Barnard, the victory was both personal and symbolic. “That’s the first time I’ve cried for a long time! To be the youngest race winner feels amazing and to do it in front of the home crowd, it feels unbelievable,” he said. “It was definitely all or nothing moves. I did it in the last corner, both times, actually, in ATTACK MODE so, I think it was just opportunistic, and a tactical, FE move.”
The win also marked DS Automobiles’ final appearance in the series, adding emotional weight to a breakthrough performance after a difficult season. “After such a tough season, the team have done so much hard work, we’ve been working in the simulator tirelessly all year. It’s never really gone our way, but today, I think the whole team deserves a break,” Barnard added.
Mahindra’s front-row charge
Mahindra Racing delivered one of its strongest showings of the season. Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara ran at the front, opening up a gap as the title contenders behind battled through traffic and incidents. De Vries finished second, Mortara third, as the Indian marque underlined its late-season pace with a double podium in the GEN3 era’s final race.
Their performance contrasted sharply with the chaos unfolding further back, where the championship fight unraveled lap by lap. With Barnard and the two Mahindras clear at the front, the race became a two-layer narrative: a clean, fast fight for victory up front, and a high-pressure, high-risk battle behind.
Chaos behind as title hopes evaporate
The title fight shifted repeatedly throughout the race. Strategic moves on Lap 27 reshuffled the order after Wehrlein’s engineer instructed him to let a faster Sébastien Buemi pass. A squeeze from António Félix da Costa allowed Jake Dennis to overtake for eighth during his first ATTACK MODE, briefly moving Dennis to the top of the virtual standings as Wehrlein dropped to 12th.
On Lap 31, contact at Turn 16 between Wehrlein and Envision Racing’s Joel Eriksson forced Wehrlein further down the field. The resulting incident caused race-ending damage to Dennis’s car, ending his title bid. Mitch Evans ran fourth but needed a win to claim the Drivers’ title; with Barnard and the two Mahindras opening up a gap at the front, Evans was unable to make up the necessary ground.
Jaguar’s teams’ triumph, Porsche’s manufacturers’ crown
While Evans finished fourth, his points haul was enough to secure the ABB FIA Formula E Teams’ World Championship for Jaguar TCS Racing, after Porsche had already won the ABB FIA Formula E Manufacturers’ World Championship earlier in the season in Tokyo.
For Wehrlein, the day was about delivery under pressure. “First of all, a big thank you to my whole team. What we did this weekend was outstanding again, delivered when we had to deliver, under pressure. You don’t crack under the pressure – we love the pressure, we embrace it, and we get even better with pressure,” he said.
Bottom line
London’s finale will be remembered for Barnard’s record-breaking win and Mahindra’s front-running pace, even as the championship headlines belonged to Wehrlein and Jaguar. In the final GEN3 race at the ExCeL, DS PENSKE’s strategic masterclass and Mahindra’s double podium offered a glimpse of the competitive depth heading into the GEN4 era.
