Dan Ticktum won the Tokyo E-Prix. (Image credit: Instagram) Cupra Kiro’s Dan Ticktum hopes he has proved his worth by winning the Tokyo E-Prix Round 14 race on Saturday. The driver who comes fresh from a second-place win at the Goodwood Festival of Speed said after the much-needed victory that he doesn’t know what else he needs to prove to be given the opportunity to drive the GEN4 in season 13. Ticktum is currently a free agent and is yet to book a seat in the next season. He expected to finish second after Jake Dennis but he pulled a last-minute move to cross the finish line first.
Dan Ticktum doesn’t know what else he needs to prove after beating Jake Dennis to win Tokyo E-Prix
Feeling relieved after the Tokyo E-Prix Round 14 race, Dan Ticktum said, “I want to say a big thank you to the team. This has been one of the hardest seasons I think I can remember in my whole career. We really haven’t had any fortune. We’ve made mistakes as a team, I’ve made mistakes, but today was the opposite. CJP Jantar Mantar Protest UpdatesWe nailed it. We had very good preparation before the race, even an hour before with all the different scenarios, and I was very keen on doing what I did and it worked out.”Opening up about how he went on to claim the second win of his Formula E career, he said, “On the last lap, to be honest, I thought I’d used too much energy in defending such a big gap. I thought I might have consumed a little bit too much and that they were going to come back at me, but when I came out of Attack Mode, the target was still okay. [Jake] Dennis got past with his last few seconds of Attack Mode, and I didn’t want to fight that one too much – I was actually quite happy with second position because I think we executed very well up to that point. He was ahead of me for about six laps, which allowed me to save a bit of energy, probably more than him. On the penultimate lap he tried to build a bit of a gap, and then on the straight down to Turn 16 on the last lap, he just had to lift early. It was a pretty straightforward move, but it was certainly in the back of my mind as a possibility.”Ticktum didn’t see a win coming at the first night race of the season. But he now simply hopes his efforts to be rewarded by getting a seat the next season. “We always want to win, but this is a very awkward track to race around. With the targets where they were, going for a move would have had to be quite risky, so I was happy to deliver the team a podium. Winning has come at a very good time in my career. A lot of people know that I’m currently a free agent, and I don’t really know what more I can do to prove that I should remain in Formula E. I hope I can be here for GEN4 because that’s going to be right up my street,” he said.
How Dan Ticktum managed to overtake polesitter Jake Dennis in Tokyo Round 14
Dan Ticktum literally stole victory from Andretti’s Jake Dennis by pouncing through the penultimate corner in the last lap. Starting from sixth on the grid, the Cupra Kiro driver executed an aggressive strategy, activating both Pit Boost and Attack Mode early to emerge from the stops as the net race leader. Despite Ticktum’s early charge, Dennis leveraged a late 50kW, all-wheel-drive boost on Lap 29 to overtake both Nick Cassidy and Ticktum and take control of the race. But Ticktum spied his chance to overtake Dennis as the Andretti driver lifted early with energy levels critical. He recorded the fastest lap as well as the closest winning margin of the season as he overtook Dennis moments before crossing the finish line.Also read: Tokyo E-Prix: Dan Ticktum steals victory from polesitter Jake Dennis, Mitch Evans regains championship lead