Nissan’s British hopeful Oliver Rowland has stormed into the lead of the all-electric Formula E World Championship.

That’s despite him narrowly missing out on a third round victory in Jeddah on Friday evening – but Max Gunther stole the show.

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Rowland currently leads the Formula E title[/caption]

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Gunther, though, was victorious in Jeddah’s first race[/caption]

The former Williams F1 junior qualified third for the inaugural race on the streets of the Saudi Arabian city and was leading until shortly before the final chicane.

That’s where DS PENSKE’s Guenther seized on a small energy advantage to pass him and take the chequered flag.

British rookie Taylor Barnard took third place for NEOM Mclaren – his second podium in three races – after coming out on top of an exciting battle with 2021 champion and former AlphaTauri F1 driver Nyck De Vries.

Formula E is famed for its unpredictability and Gunther’s first victory since Tokyo 2024 summed up the championship’s reputation as he became the first driver to win from pole position in 17 races.

He also secured an extra point for the fastest lap and told talkSPORT: “This means everything to me. I thought a podium would have been good, but to do it in the end and to win it is an extra special feeling. I didn’t want to leave it until the last corner but there was no other option – Oli was doing a mega job today, a great race. I believed until the end!” 

The German’s triumph was far from straight forward though – he found himself down in eighth following the first ever round of PIT BOOST mandatory pit stops before battling back to put himself in a position to make the decisive move for the win.

The 30-second visit to the pits has been in development for months and will feature in one race during every double header weekend on the 2025 calendar. Each stop sees a 10 per cent charging boost delivered to the car at a rate of 600kW – considerably faster than your average consumer fast-charger!

The new addition has been met with some apprehension within the paddock, although Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum told talkSPORT why the inclusion of the latest technology is important for the championship:

“I think it’s cool and it’s a fantastic showcase of what is the main issue with electric cars on the road these days – the charging time. Implementing technology like this and showing that you can charge a battery 10 per cent in 30 seconds is cool!”

“The only thing I don’t like is that we don’t have one per car – there will be an optimal time in the race where you want to bring both drivers in and there’ll be times where you’ll have to prioritise one or the other”

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Gunther and Rowland celebrated in style[/caption]

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Brit star Barnard got third place too[/caption]

Frustratingly, it was Ticktum who suffered the only known technical issue during his PIT BOOST stop – dropping him down to an eventual 18th place finish.

It was later confirmed to have been a battery problem, rather than a the charger, which required his car to be reset mid-race.

However, there were strong finishes for other British drivers with Jake Hughes bagging his best result for Maserati MSG racing in figth, while Barnard’s NEOM Mclaren teammate Sam Bird crossed the line in eighth.

It was another day to forget for 2023 champion Jake Dennis – he once again failed to complete the race due to a problem with his Andretti Gen3 Evo car.

Round four of the Formula E World Championship takes place under the lights on the same track on Saturday evening – with exclusive radio commentary from 5pm on talkSPORT2.