Formula E: DS Techeetah emerging as championship favorites?

The Formula E team championship battle has been tight all season. Are DS Techeetah finally emerging as the championship favorites?

The Formula E team championship battle has been tight throughout the entire 2018-2019 season, in large part as a result of the fact that it took until the 13-race season’s eighth race, the Paris ePrix, for a team to finally win multiple races.

Envision Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns won this race after teammate Sam Bird won the season’s third race, the Santiago ePrix.

After DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne became the first driver to win two races this season with his victory in the season’s ninth race, the Monaco ePrix, have DS Techeetah emerged as the championship favorite?

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It took DS Techeetah until the season’s sixth race, the Sanya ePrix, to win a race when Vergne earned his first victory of the season, but through the season’s first nine races, they are now one of only two teams that have won two races this season.

In a team championship battle that had featured extremely tight team standings throughout the entirety of the 2018-2019 season, DS Techeetah have now opened up a sizable 38-point lead (173 to 135) in the standings over Envision Virgin Racing in second place.

Additionally, DS Techeetah’s two drivers, Vergne and Andre Lotterer, are suddenly sitting atop the driver standings in first and second place with 87 points and 86 points, respectively, in a season that has featured a ton of parity across the board.

Last season, DS Techeetah dominated the team championship battle, but they let it slip away in the season finale, as Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler were crowned champions. They finished just two points ahead of DS Techeetah (264 to 262) in the team standings.

This season, DS Techeetah have silently worked their way back into a similar position, and given their recent momentum as a team and from both of their drivers individually, they appear poised to stay there this time around. That said, whether they do or not, they have clearly established themselves as the favorites at this point.

Will DS Techeetah pull off this season what they could not pull off last season despite the fact that they were the clear favorites to do so and win their first Formula E team championship? With four races remaining in the 2018-2019 season, they have a great chance to accomplish this feat.