This is my review of race 2 of 2026 TDK Tokyo ePrix. Weather has been threatening this event all weekend, with heavy rain disrupting the teams with their set-up before Free Practice 1 and forced the cancellation of Free Practice 3 as well.
The next Formula E race will be the 2026 Hankook London ePrix doubleheader, with the race 1 on 15th August 2026 at 14:00 UTC and race 2 on 16th August also at 14:00 UTC. You can find out where to watch it here.

Qualifying

Group A consisted of: Mitch Evans, Jake Dennis, Antonio Felix da Costa, Nico Mueller, Sebastien Buemi, Felipe Drugovich, Joel Eriksson, Jean-Eric Vergne, Taylor Barnard, and Norman Nato. Both Envision drivers have 3-place grid penalties for incidents last race and Felipe would pick 1 up as well after impeding Sebastien Buemi. The top 4 in group A and thus made it to the Duel stage were: Antonio, Mitch, Taylor, and Norman.
Group B went next and consisted of Pascal Wehrlein, Oliver Rowland, Edoardo Mortara, Nick Cassidy, Nyck de Vries, Josep Maria 'Pepe' Marti, Dan Ticktum, Lucas Di Grassi, Max Guenther, and Zane Maloney. We had 2 drivers set identical lap times as Pepe and Pascal both set a 1:14.798 but as Pepe did it first, his time ranks higher than Pascal's. The 4 that made it into Duel stage from group B were: Edoardo, Nyck, Dan, and Oliver.
The 1st Quarter-Final was between Taylor and Mitch, with the former winning by 0.555 seconds while the 2nd Quarter-Final was between Norman and Antonio with the former winning by 0.207 seconds. Quarter-Final 3 was between Dan and Nyck, which saw the latter advance by a 0.427 seconds, while the final Quarter-Final was between Oliver and Edoardo which saw the latter moving on by 1.207 seconds after a huge mistake for Oliver into turn 1 which is still quite wet because there are drainage issues in that part of the track. Semi-Final 1 was between Taylor and Antonio, which the former won by 0.127 seconds, despite both making a mistake in turn 1, while Semi-Final 2 was between Dan and Edoardo, with the latter winning by 0.16 seconds. The Final saw Edoardo winning by 0.677 seconds to become first non-British driver to score the pole position for a Tokyo ePrix race.

Race

Overall Drivers' Championship

Nyck de Vries wins the ePrix from Nick Cassidy in 2nd and Jake Dennis in 3rd. Despite starting in wet conditions that necessitated 1 lap behind the safety car, the race was relatively clean, although turn 7 did cause another incident that was larger than what had happened in the previous race. However, that was not the first incident as on lap 14 Sebastien would dive on Pepe Marti in turn 17 and get alongside the Cupra Kiro driver, but clatters the kerb on the inside of the corner and understeered into Pepe, putting the Spaniard into the wall and nearly himself as well. Sebastien gets a 5-second time penalty and now has 10 points on his licence. The Full Course Yellow flies at the end of lap 15 and Felipe fails slow down quickly enough and receives a 5-second time penalty which is initially converted to a 3-place grid drop, as he provisionally finishes 11th but moves up to 10th after Sebastien's penalty, so has the grid drop rescinded and finishes 16th instead. This rescinding is done late enough that the final race results and standings had already been published, so needed amending (thanks, stewards!). The main incident this race happens on lap 32 when Joel Eriksson makes a late, robust move on the inside of Edoardo Mortara into turn 6, which damages the latter's rear right suspension. On the entry to turn 7 however, Edoardo taps the rear of Joel's car, spinning the Swede around, which he hits and the 2 block the track, necessitating a red flag. Edoardo gets a 10-second time penalty converted to a 5-place grid drop for the incident and the conversion is because he retires from the ePrix. There seems to be some confusion under this red flag, as Jean-Eric Vergne decides to line up on the grid rather than heading into the pit lane, like you are supposed to do, so gets a warning from the stewards. Also Lucas di Grassi speeds under the red flag and picks up a 5-second penalty converted to a 3-place grid drop due to finishing outside the top 10.
The problem with this race is with the tyres as a lot of drivers were handicapped by having the wrong pressures which caused their tyres to overheat and lose grip, preventing them from maintaining the track position they had for the majority of the race. A good example of a driver who suffered from th is Mitch Evans, who struggled to whilst in Attack Mode on laps 20-23 to pass Oliver Rowland, despite the latter not being in Attack Mode, as he couldn't put the power down to out-accelerate oliver down straights and suffered enough that Oliver could pull away slightly. The reason for this is that the Hankook tyres are slow to heat up, so with cooler track temperatures, you run higher pressures to make the tyre contact patch smaller which helps to generate tyre temperatures, but the Hankook tyres can't handle temperature fluctuations very well compared to its predecessor Michelin, so you have guess what the track temperature is going to be for most of the race and aim your pressures to work in those conditions. The problem is for the frontrunners is that a low tyre pressure would see them be swallowed by the pack early on and would trapped behind slower cars and lose precious track position, while those further back it is ok if they run slow initially because they are already out of the points and they can hang back and save energy, so they can pounce if a safety car or red flag occur. Luckily, we are going to get a new tyre supplier for Gen 4 as Bridgestone have been selected, so all they need to do is make a tyre that isn't so temperature sensitive.
The top 6 in the driver's standings under the alternative format:

1. Jake Dennis (+2)
2. Mitch Evans (-1)
3. Pascal Wehrlein (-1)
4. Oliver Rowland (=0)
5. Antonio Felix da Costa (=0)
6. Nico Mueller (=0)

All drivers have more points under the alternative format compared to their real life totals, with the one who has the most points compared to real life is Max Guenther, who has 55 more points under the alternative format (78) compared to real life (23). There are differences between the standings and the drivers who gain the most position's under the alternative format are Nico Mueller and Max, who both gain 2 places under alternative format to be 6th and 16th respectively compared to real life standings where they ar 8th and 18th respectively. The drivers who lose the most positions are: Edoardo Mortara, Felipe Drugovich, and Dan Ticktum who all drops 2 places to be 7th, 13th, 17th respectively under the alternative format, but are 5th, 11th, and 15th respectively in real life. Nick Cassidy, Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Felipe, and Joel Eriksson are all now mathematically eliminated.
Below are the overall Drivers' Championship standings:

Customer Trophy for Drivers

The class is won Jake Dennis with 2nd in class to Dan Ticktum, and 3rd in class to Sebastien Buemi. Dan leads after the standing start all the way until lap 28, where he is passed by Jake Dennis presumably in turn 10 as we don't see the overtake. Jake leads until the end. The retirement for Pepe Marti eliminates him from Trophy contention.
Below are the Customer Trophy for Drivers standings:

Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy

The winner of the class is Nico Mueller, with 2nd going to Zane Maloney and 3rd to Felipe Drugovich. Pepe Marti leads from the standing start but is passed by Nico in Attack Mode into turn 1 on lap 4, who leads until the end. The retirement for Pepe Marti eliminates him from Trophy contention and if you were wondering, I write these comments on the standings after each race so that is why yesterday's comment for this championship has aged poorly.
Below are the Nelson Piquet Jr Trophy standings:

Overall Teams' Championship

Jaguar TCS Racing still lead the standings under both formats with Porsche Formula E Team in 2nd and 3rd is Andretti Formula E under both formats. The difference in the standings between the 2 formats as Envision Racing sit 6th under alternative format but while are 7th real life while the reverse is true or Nissan Formula E Team. All teams have more points under the alternative format than they do in real life and the team with biggest difference is DS Penske who have 154 points under the alternative format and 56 in real life.
Below are the overall Teams' Championship standings:

Customer Teams' Championship

Cupra Kiro are now mathematically eliminated from winning the championship while Andretti hold the biggest advantage a leader has had so far this season in this championship at 16 points.
Below are the Customer Teams' Championship standings:

Manufacturers' Cup

Stellantis lead the manufacturer standings under the alternative format with 347 points but are 3rd in real life with 243 as 1st in real life is Porsche with 448 points but they are 2nd under alternative format with 326. Jaguar are 3rd under alternative format and 1 place better in real life. There is no other difference in the standings between the 2 formats, although Jaguar and Porsche do have more points in real life compared to their totals under the alternative format. The biggest gainer in terms of points is Stellantis, whose 347 points under the alternative format is 104 points greater than their real life total of 243. Also Porsche have sealed the Manufacturer Championship with 2 rounds to go in real life while under the alternative format, Nissan have been mathematically eliminated.
Below are the Manufacturers' Cup standings: