Formula E: Jean-Eric Vergne poised to become first two-time champion

There has never been a two-time Formula E champion, but Jean-Eric Vergne is poised to change that this weekend in New York City.

The fifth season of Formula E competition began this past December after four different drivers each won one of the series’ first four championships. But this string of not having a two-time champion is poised to end this weekend in the two races of the New York City ePrix to wrap up the 2018-2019 season.

The 13-race 2018-2019 season has been a season of lots of parity. Seven different polesitters took a pole position through the season’s first seven races, seven different teams won one of the season’s first seven races and eight different drivers won one of the season’s first eight races.

No driver could pull away in the driver standings, and it was starting to look like even a small hot streak would allow someone to do so.

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Six points separated the top two drivers in the driver standings following the season’s 10th race, as DS Techeetah’s Jean-Eric Vergne and Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi, the winners of the last two championships, sat in first and second place with 102 points and 96 points, respectively.

As a result, in a series where a maximum of 29 points are on the table for each driver in each race, including 25 for winning, three for taking the pole position and one for recording the fastest lap, only one driver had averaged more than 9.6 points per race through the season’s first 10 races.

Vergne then won the season’s 11th race, the Bern ePrix, making himself the only driver to win two races in a three-race span and the only driver to record three consecutive podium finishes this season. He also became the first three-time winner of the season even after five drivers won before he did.

Call it a “small hot streak”.

Suddenly, Vergne leads di Grassi in second place in the driver standings by a whopping 32 points (130 to 98), and with two races remaining on the schedule and thus only a maximum of 58 points remaining on the table for each driver, he is now in the catbird seat to become the first two-time Formula E champion.

These two races, both races of the New York City ePrix, are both 45-minute races around the 13-turn, 1.21-mile (1.947-kilometer) Brooklyn Street Circuit temporary street circuit in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York, and they are both scheduled to take place this weekend, with the first race scheduled to take place on Saturday, July 13 and the second scheduled to take place on Sunday, July 14.

In four previous starts at this track, the 29-year-old Frenchman has never finished outside of the top eight. He has recorded three top five finishes, two top two finishes and a victory, and his average finishing position is 4.00. He finished in fifth place in the first race at the track last season to clinch the championship, and he won the second.

Look for Jean-Eric Vergne to become the first two-time champion in Formula E history this weekend in the New York City ePrix, and don’t be surprised if he solidifies the 2018-2019 championship in the season’s penultimate race like he did last season as opposed to the season finale.