That's it for Formula E action, thank you for your company on the live text coverage.
The paddock now heads into a prolonged break and returns on 16 March for the race in Sao Paulo. We look forward to seeing you then!
18:14
ROWLAND POST-RACE
'Yesterday was a bit disappointing for us, but today we regrouped and we did an excellent job this morning when we were able to get the pole. Slightly disappointed - the start was a lot of wheelspin and Robin [Frijns] managed to get me. Our chance today was to control the race if we wanted to win, but we didn't manage to do that. But it's still a great result for the team , lots of points, and we'll take this confidence into the next one.
'I came back to Nissan with the target of winning, so ... We know it's a long road, but we'll keep pushing and I think the step we made today and also just the potential over the first two races has been very good, so I'm happy.'
18:08
FRIJNS POST RACE
'The start was really good, the highlight of my race for sure. I was leading, so I thought, nice and comfortable. But then I was fighting with Nick [Cassidy] the whole way and we were pulling away, we were almost killing each other. But Nick did a very good job. I secured P2, good points, and hopefully, I just want to go one more step forward in the next race.
'I was a bit struggling at the beginning of the season, I had to learn the car a bit more. There's still some steps to be made, but I will get there.'
18:02
CASSIDY POST-RACE
'This is awesome, it's such a dream start [to racing with Jaguar]. I've got an amazing car, I'm so privileged. Every [win] is special. It's just been a dream start; I'm waiting for a bad day, it's going to come, but for now, we ride.
'I thought I went to hard, but Jaguar TCS Racing gave me an amazing car and I'm super lucky.'
36/36
CASSIDY WINS IN DIRIYAH
Cassidy keeps pushing, does pull out a buffer to Frijns, and crosses the line for his first win of the season. This now sees him lead the championship standings.
Frijns takes second ahead of Rowland.
35/36
HAMMER DOWN CASSIDY
Cassidy is stepping things up here. Frijns can go with him but a gap is opening to Rowland.
33/36
CASSIDY STAYS COOL
It's not exactly a comfortable lead, but Cassidy does look in control at the front. He might yet get some help from Rowland as well who seems to consider an overtake attempt on Frijns.
32/36
ROWLAND CONSIDERS ATTEMPT
Rowland just about has a look at Frijns ahead of him but doesn't attempt anything yet.
31/36
'ZERO RISK' FROM ROWLAND
Rowland is told on the radio to take 'zero risk' and secure the podium. He might be tempted to go for more than just the podium here.
30/36
CONCERNS FOR CASSIDY
Some concerned words from Cassidy on the radio who says he can't keep under-consuming without risking to drop down the order.
29/36
CASSIDY LEADS, QUEUE FOLLOWS
Cassidy still leads the race but there's more and more cars lining up in the front group, around 10 drivers now within striking distance of each other.
27/36
DARUVALA STRANDED
Daruvala comes to a standstill on track at Turn 18 as his car locks up completely. The yellow flag is out for that part of the circuit only at the moment.
26/36
TOP THREE STILL
It's still Cassidy, Frijns, and Rowland at the top of the field. Of course, all four have used their attack modes and this is a straight racing shoot-out. Hughes is only marginally away and has an energy advantage.
24/36
WEHRLEIN PAST VERGNE
Best bit of racing so far today as Wehrlein challenges Vergne for seventh and makes the move stick.
23/36
GAME OVER FOR BIRD
Bird hits the wall and drops down the order. He heads to the pits with some damage to his car.
22/36
WEHRLEIN UP TO EIGHTH
Bird attempts an overtake on Vergne but goes wide in the process and instead drops behind Wehrlein.
21/36
TOP FOUR GROUP FORMS
The gap was at six seconds at some point but, with Cassidy and Frijns presumably conserving energy, Rowland has closed it and is right back in the mix. Hughes is immediately behind.
19/36
ENERGY CHECK
Cassidy has the slightest of advantages over Frijns in terms of energy. The best of the front pack though is Hughes with more than a per cent over his opponents.
17/36
ROWLAND CATCHES
The gap between Rowland and the front duo is down to around three seconds again. And Rowland does have to push with Hughes challenging him for position.
15/36
TROUBLE FOR FRIJNS?
Frijns is warned on the radio that he's running danger of using up too much energy. He is fairly close to Cassidy again though following the Kiwi heading out for his second attack mode and might just hang around in the slipstream for a while.
The duo is more than four seconds ahead of Rowland in third.
13/36
SECOND ATTACK MODE FOR CASSIDY
Cassidy heads for his second attack mode and he has enough of a gap to hold on to the lead. That worked out beautifully for the Jaguar team.
12/36
ENERGY CHECK
Looking at the energy percentages of the front runners, there is nothing much separating them. Hughes has a slight advantage over the three ahead of him with Cassidy about a per cent or so in favour over Frijns and Rowland.
11/36
FIELD BUNCHES UP
While the front-runners have a bit of breathing space between each other, there is a long queue of cars from P7 downwards.
9/36
BIRD INTO NINTH
First on-track overtake of the race and it's a beautiful one from Bird who claims Sette Camara for ninth.
9/36
CASSIDY IN THE LEAD
Cassidy keeps building an advantage at the front, holding just under two seconds over Frijns.
Frijns, in turn, is well ahead of Rowland.
8/36
SECOND ATTACK MODE FOR FRIJNS
Frijns goes wide for his second attack mode and stays ahead of Rowland. He is trailing Cassidy by well over a second though.
7/36
ATTACK MODE CASSIDY, HOLDS LEAD
That worked out wonderfully for Cassidy who has created enough of a gap to head wide for attack mode and stay in the lead.
6/36
FASTEST LAP CASSIDY
Still no attack mode for Cassidy; he sets the fastest lap instead.
Rowland meanwhile heads for his second attack mode and rejoins the racing line in third.
5/36
FRIJNS IN ATTACK MODE
Frijns now goes wide for attack mode and manages to only lose one position to Cassidy.
Cassidy, in turn, is pushing hard to create a gap.
4/36
MORE ATTACK MODES
Rowland in attack mode and he falls behind Cassidy into third. Hughes too goes wide and rejoins the racing line in fifth behind Vandoorne.
Frijns and Cassidy are yet to trigger theirs.
3/36
FIRST ATTACK MODES
Vandoorne is first of the front-runners to head into attack mode. He falls behind Hughes into fifth.
2/36
STANDINGS AFTER OPENING LAP
Here's how the drivers are lining up after the opening lap:
Frijns
Rowland
Cassidy
Vandoorne
Hughes
Daruvala
Fenestraz
Vergne
Sette Camara
Bird
1/36
FRIJNS STEALS LEAD AT LIGHTS OUT
Excellent start from Frijns who beats pole sitter Rowland to the holeshot. Cassidy too is challenging Rowland but has to settle for third for now.
17:00
MOMENTS AWAY, CASSIDY LEADS SOCIAL MEDIA POLL
The drivers are in their cars and we'll go racing in just a matter of minutes.
Nick Cassidy is leading Formula E's 'who will win today's race?' poll:
16:55
10 MINUTES TO GO
It's just under 10 minutes to lights out and pre-race procedures are well underway here. We've had the national anthem, we've had the light show and dancing, and the drone show is lighting up the sky.
16:50
36 LAPS
Don't forget that we are set to race for 36 laps today, one less than yesterday. This, of course, means that the drivers and their engineers need to develop a different strategy compared to the previous race and there is no way for us to predict how this one will go.
16:45
GRID REMINDER
With around 20 minutes to go until lights out, here's a reminder of how the drivers will be lining up on the grid today:
Oliver Rowland
Robin Frijns
Nick Cassidy
Stoffel Vandoorne
Jehan Daruvala
Jake Hughes
Sacha Fenestraz
Jean-Eric Vergne
Sergio Sette Camara
Pascal Wehrlein
16:40
50TH START FOR CASSIDY
... and Nick Cassidy too is set for a milestone 50th career Formula E start today.
16:35
50TH START FOR DENNIS
Today's race marks a bit of history for reigning world champion Jake Dennis who is taking on his 50th Formula E start.
16:30
DNS BUEMI
Sebastien Buemi will not start today's race. Envision Racing confirmed that after an incident in qualifying the chassis of Buemi's car has been ruled not safe to race.
16:25
DOUBLE HEADER DOUBLE VICTORIES
Down in P15 on the grid, yesterday's winner Jake Dennis has his work cut out if he wants to do the double here in Diriyah. He would be only the fifth driver in Formula E history to achieve that feat.
The only drivers so far to have won both races over a double header are:
Nico Prost (London 2016)
Sam Bird (New York 2017)
Antonio Felix da Costa (Berlin 2020)
Mitch Evans (Rome 2022)
Pascal Wehrlein (Diriyah 2023)
16:20
ROWLAND TARGETS PODIUM
Starting from pole, Oliver Rowland is eyeing a podium in today's race:
'We knew we had the pace of this since pre-season testing, but in the first two rounds nothing quite went to plan. But today the team did an amazing job. I just like to thank all of them and everybody in Nissan for the mega car today. I guess we're back on the map and in the mix!'
Speaking about his race strategy he said: 'Apart from the attack mode, I think we should be okay. We just need to make good. The pace we had yesterday was good, so if we can repeat that today and make sure we're clever with our strategy, I think we can at least be on the podium.'
16:15
WHAT HAPPENED IN QUALIFYING
Nissan's Oliver Rowland stormed to pole position in the qualifying session earlier today. He beat Robin Frijns in the final.
Yesterday's winner Jake Dennis will start from way down the order in 15th.
Oliver Rowland
Robin Frijns
Nick Cassidy
Stoffel Vandoorne
Jehan Daruvala
Jake Hughes
Sacha Fenestraz
Jean-Eric Vergne
Sergio Sette Camara
Pascal Wehrlein
16:10
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
Reigning world champion Jake Dennis took his first victory of the season in yesterday's race with a tactical masterclass that resulted in the second largest win in Formula E history. He was joined on the podium by Jean-Eric Vergne and Nick Cassidy who inherited third after a late error in judgement from Mitch Evans.
Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of the second race of the Diriyah double header. The track is just as challenging as yesterday, but the grid is looking completely different, so there is no predicting what will happen today. Who will prevail under the lights?
16:00
Diriyah E-Prix Live - Rowland starts from pole, Dennis with work to do in second race of Saudi double header
Diriyah ePrix
THANK YOU AND GOODBYE
That's it for Formula E action, thank you for your company on the live text coverage.
The paddock now heads into a prolonged break and returns on 16 March for the race in Sao Paulo. We look forward to seeing you then!
ROWLAND POST-RACE
'Yesterday was a bit disappointing for us, but today we regrouped and we did an excellent job this morning when we were able to get the pole. Slightly disappointed - the start was a lot of wheelspin and Robin [Frijns] managed to get me. Our chance today was to control the race if we wanted to win, but we didn't manage to do that. But it's still a great result for the team , lots of points, and we'll take this confidence into the next one.
'I came back to Nissan with the target of winning, so ... We know it's a long road, but we'll keep pushing and I think the step we made today and also just the potential over the first two races has been very good, so I'm happy.'
FRIJNS POST RACE
'The start was really good, the highlight of my race for sure. I was leading, so I thought, nice and comfortable. But then I was fighting with Nick [Cassidy] the whole way and we were pulling away, we were almost killing each other. But Nick did a very good job. I secured P2, good points, and hopefully, I just want to go one more step forward in the next race.
'I was a bit struggling at the beginning of the season, I had to learn the car a bit more. There's still some steps to be made, but I will get there.'
CASSIDY POST-RACE
'This is awesome, it's such a dream start [to racing with Jaguar]. I've got an amazing car, I'm so privileged. Every [win] is special. It's just been a dream start; I'm waiting for a bad day, it's going to come, but for now, we ride.
'I thought I went to hard, but Jaguar TCS Racing gave me an amazing car and I'm super lucky.'
CASSIDY WINS IN DIRIYAH
Cassidy keeps pushing, does pull out a buffer to Frijns, and crosses the line for his first win of the season. This now sees him lead the championship standings.
Frijns takes second ahead of Rowland.
HAMMER DOWN CASSIDY
Cassidy is stepping things up here. Frijns can go with him but a gap is opening to Rowland.
CASSIDY STAYS COOL
It's not exactly a comfortable lead, but Cassidy does look in control at the front. He might yet get some help from Rowland as well who seems to consider an overtake attempt on Frijns.
ROWLAND CONSIDERS ATTEMPT
Rowland just about has a look at Frijns ahead of him but doesn't attempt anything yet.
'ZERO RISK' FROM ROWLAND
Rowland is told on the radio to take 'zero risk' and secure the podium. He might be tempted to go for more than just the podium here.
CONCERNS FOR CASSIDY
Some concerned words from Cassidy on the radio who says he can't keep under-consuming without risking to drop down the order.
CASSIDY LEADS, QUEUE FOLLOWS
Cassidy still leads the race but there's more and more cars lining up in the front group, around 10 drivers now within striking distance of each other.
DARUVALA STRANDED
Daruvala comes to a standstill on track at Turn 18 as his car locks up completely. The yellow flag is out for that part of the circuit only at the moment.
TOP THREE STILL
It's still Cassidy, Frijns, and Rowland at the top of the field. Of course, all four have used their attack modes and this is a straight racing shoot-out. Hughes is only marginally away and has an energy advantage.
WEHRLEIN PAST VERGNE
Best bit of racing so far today as Wehrlein challenges Vergne for seventh and makes the move stick.
GAME OVER FOR BIRD
Bird hits the wall and drops down the order. He heads to the pits with some damage to his car.
WEHRLEIN UP TO EIGHTH
Bird attempts an overtake on Vergne but goes wide in the process and instead drops behind Wehrlein.
TOP FOUR GROUP FORMS
The gap was at six seconds at some point but, with Cassidy and Frijns presumably conserving energy, Rowland has closed it and is right back in the mix. Hughes is immediately behind.
ENERGY CHECK
Cassidy has the slightest of advantages over Frijns in terms of energy. The best of the front pack though is Hughes with more than a per cent over his opponents.
ROWLAND CATCHES
The gap between Rowland and the front duo is down to around three seconds again. And Rowland does have to push with Hughes challenging him for position.
TROUBLE FOR FRIJNS?
Frijns is warned on the radio that he's running danger of using up too much energy. He is fairly close to Cassidy again though following the Kiwi heading out for his second attack mode and might just hang around in the slipstream for a while.
The duo is more than four seconds ahead of Rowland in third.
SECOND ATTACK MODE FOR CASSIDY
Cassidy heads for his second attack mode and he has enough of a gap to hold on to the lead. That worked out beautifully for the Jaguar team.
ENERGY CHECK
Looking at the energy percentages of the front runners, there is nothing much separating them. Hughes has a slight advantage over the three ahead of him with Cassidy about a per cent or so in favour over Frijns and Rowland.
FIELD BUNCHES UP
While the front-runners have a bit of breathing space between each other, there is a long queue of cars from P7 downwards.
BIRD INTO NINTH
First on-track overtake of the race and it's a beautiful one from Bird who claims Sette Camara for ninth.
CASSIDY IN THE LEAD
Cassidy keeps building an advantage at the front, holding just under two seconds over Frijns.
Frijns, in turn, is well ahead of Rowland.
SECOND ATTACK MODE FOR FRIJNS
Frijns goes wide for his second attack mode and stays ahead of Rowland. He is trailing Cassidy by well over a second though.
ATTACK MODE CASSIDY, HOLDS LEAD
That worked out wonderfully for Cassidy who has created enough of a gap to head wide for attack mode and stay in the lead.
FASTEST LAP CASSIDY
Still no attack mode for Cassidy; he sets the fastest lap instead.
Rowland meanwhile heads for his second attack mode and rejoins the racing line in third.
FRIJNS IN ATTACK MODE
Frijns now goes wide for attack mode and manages to only lose one position to Cassidy.
Cassidy, in turn, is pushing hard to create a gap.
MORE ATTACK MODES
Rowland in attack mode and he falls behind Cassidy into third. Hughes too goes wide and rejoins the racing line in fifth behind Vandoorne.
Frijns and Cassidy are yet to trigger theirs.
FIRST ATTACK MODES
Vandoorne is first of the front-runners to head into attack mode. He falls behind Hughes into fifth.
STANDINGS AFTER OPENING LAP
Here's how the drivers are lining up after the opening lap:
FRIJNS STEALS LEAD AT LIGHTS OUT
Excellent start from Frijns who beats pole sitter Rowland to the holeshot. Cassidy too is challenging Rowland but has to settle for third for now.
MOMENTS AWAY, CASSIDY LEADS SOCIAL MEDIA POLL
The drivers are in their cars and we'll go racing in just a matter of minutes.
Nick Cassidy is leading Formula E's 'who will win today's race?' poll:
10 MINUTES TO GO
It's just under 10 minutes to lights out and pre-race procedures are well underway here. We've had the national anthem, we've had the light show and dancing, and the drone show is lighting up the sky.
36 LAPS
Don't forget that we are set to race for 36 laps today, one less than yesterday. This, of course, means that the drivers and their engineers need to develop a different strategy compared to the previous race and there is no way for us to predict how this one will go.
GRID REMINDER
With around 20 minutes to go until lights out, here's a reminder of how the drivers will be lining up on the grid today:
50TH START FOR CASSIDY
... and Nick Cassidy too is set for a milestone 50th career Formula E start today.
50TH START FOR DENNIS
Today's race marks a bit of history for reigning world champion Jake Dennis who is taking on his 50th Formula E start.
DNS BUEMI
Sebastien Buemi will not start today's race. Envision Racing confirmed that after an incident in qualifying the chassis of Buemi's car has been ruled not safe to race.
DOUBLE HEADER DOUBLE VICTORIES
Down in P15 on the grid, yesterday's winner Jake Dennis has his work cut out if he wants to do the double here in Diriyah. He would be only the fifth driver in Formula E history to achieve that feat.
The only drivers so far to have won both races over a double header are:
ROWLAND TARGETS PODIUM
Starting from pole, Oliver Rowland is eyeing a podium in today's race:
'We knew we had the pace of this since pre-season testing, but in the first two rounds nothing quite went to plan. But today the team did an amazing job. I just like to thank all of them and everybody in Nissan for the mega car today. I guess we're back on the map and in the mix!'
Speaking about his race strategy he said: 'Apart from the attack mode, I think we should be okay. We just need to make good. The pace we had yesterday was good, so if we can repeat that today and make sure we're clever with our strategy, I think we can at least be on the podium.'
WHAT HAPPENED IN QUALIFYING
Nissan's Oliver Rowland stormed to pole position in the qualifying session earlier today. He beat Robin Frijns in the final.
Yesterday's winner Jake Dennis will start from way down the order in 15th.
WHAT HAPPENED YESTERDAY
Reigning world champion Jake Dennis took his first victory of the season in yesterday's race with a tactical masterclass that resulted in the second largest win in Formula E history. He was joined on the podium by Jean-Eric Vergne and Nick Cassidy who inherited third after a late error in judgement from Mitch Evans.
Read all about it:
HELLO AND WELCOME
Good afternoon and welcome to our live text coverage of the second race of the Diriyah double header. The track is just as challenging as yesterday, but the grid is looking completely different, so there is no predicting what will happen today. Who will prevail under the lights?
Diriyah E-Prix Live - Rowland starts from pole, Dennis with work to do in second race of Saudi double header