After the premiere last year, Formula E returns to Tokyo with a double race. Saturday's race includes 600 kW fast charging pit stops for the third time. As in Monaco, tight corners make qualifying in Tokyo a success factor.

World champion Pascal Wehrlein and teammate António Félix da Costa were able to extend their winning streak in qualifying: 20 times in a row, at least one of the two works drivers qualified for the duels with the highly efficient Porsche 99X Electric. No other team has managed to do that before.

Start of the second half of the season

The formula also heralds the second half of the season with Sunday's race. Last year, da Costa and Wehrlein achieved five of the seven victories of the season in this phase. The two currently occupy 2nd and 3rd place in the drivers' world championship. In the team standings, the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team leads the tableau. For Wehrlein, the double race in Tokyo is already the third race weekend in a row: After the Monaco E-Prix, he also competed in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) for the first time with the Porsche 963. At the 6 Hours of Spa-Francorchamps, he finished ninth alongside Porsche works drivers Kévin Estre and Laurens Vanthoor.

Porsche balance sheet in Tokyo

At the premiere of Formula E on Japanese soil in 2024, António Félix da Costa moved up from ninth on the grid to fourth place and achieved his best result of the season to date. In doing so, he laid the foundation for a strong second half of the season, in which he achieved four wins. Pascal Wehrlein finished fifth and took the lead in the World Championship. For the Porsche customer team Andretti Formula E, Jake Dennis finished third on the podium.

Typical Formula E circuit in front of a spectacular backdrop

As last year, the race will be held on a 2.575-kilometre street circuit. The route runs counterclockwise and leads around the Big Sight Convention Center on the Tokyo Waterfront. With 18 corners, several straights and many 90-degree corners, it is a typical Formula E circuit – embedded in the Tokyo skyline and with the striking Tokyo Gate Bridge in the background. A special challenge: At the exit of turn 2, the asphalt strip drops sharply – for a moment, all four wheels lose contact with the ground. An additional challenge for drivers and material, especially since the passage leads directly into the next corner.

Third use of the Pit Boost

After Jeddah and Monaco, the so-called Pit Boost will be used again. During the 34-second mandatory pit stop during Saturday's race, 3.85 kWh of electricity flows into the battery (10%) – innovative fast charging with 600 kW of power. By comparison, the Formula E safety car, the Porsche Taycan Turbo GT road-going sports car, charges with up to 320 kW. The CCS (Combined Charging System) charging system demonstrates a technology transfer to series production: the socket and plug of the 99X racing car and the electric Porsche road cars are identical to each other. The CCS combines the option of AC charging with the option of DC charging, thus enabling gentler charging, for example at home, and powerful fast charging on the go.

Points standings after 7 of 16 races

Drivers' standings
: 1st Oliver Rowland (GBR), 115 points
, 2nd António Félix da Costa (POR), 67 points
, 3rd Pascal Wehrlein (GER), 66 points
, 6th Jake Dennis (GBR), 44 points
, 14th Nico Müller (SUI), 24 points
, 17th Dan Ticktum (GBR), 18 points
, 22nd David Beckmann (GER), 0 points

, team classification
: 1st TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team (GER), 133 points
2. Nissan Formula E Team (JPN), 126 points
3. Mahindra Racing (GBR), 91 points
6. Andretti Formula E (USA), 68 points
11. CUPRA KIRO (USA), 18 points

manufacturers' standings
1. Nissan, 192 points
2. Porsche, 163 points
3. Jaguar, 115 points

Formula E live on TV and on the Internet

Races 8 and 9 of the season will start on May 17 and 18 respectively at 3:05 p.m. local time (8:05 a.m. CEST), with qualifying starting at 10:20 a.m. local time (3:20 a.m. CEST) on both days.

Germany: All qualifying sessions and races will be shown live on German television on the free-to-air channel DF1. At the same time, ServusTV streams on the Internet (servustv.com).

Austria: In addition to the Internet live stream from ServusTV, the qualifying sessions and races in Austria will be shown on the associated free TV channel.

Switzerland: The live stream of all qualifying sessions and races at servustv.com is also available in Switzerland. Households of the telecommunications provider Swisscom can watch all races live on the blue Sport channel.

Pay-TV: The races will also be shown live on the pay channel Eurosport 2 and the paid streaming services discovery+ and DAZN.

Quotes on the Monaco E-Prix

Florian Modlinger, Overall Project Manager Formula E: "After Monaco we had a lot to work through - but we are ready. The track in Tokyo is a typical Formula E street circuit with many corners and a little different from Monaco in terms of asphalt. Here, too, the starting position will be decisive. Compared to Monaco, the two races are of different lengths for the first time – Saturday's pit boost race is three laps longer than Sunday's race. This makes the approach different from the previous double races with Pit Boost, especially in terms of energy management."

Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche works driver (#1): "I'm looking forward to Tokyo. Last year, the race was sold out; the great interest and the atmosphere were really cool. The next few weeks will be very intense, but I'm looking forward to a lot of race kilometres – and hopefully good results."

António Félix da Costa, Porsche works driver (#13): "Monaco was definitely not an easy weekend, but I'm sure we'll arrive in Tokyo well prepared. The track suited us well last year. For me personally, the weekend there was a turning point in the season. I'm looking forward to riding there again and fighting back in the fight for the championship."

Porsche in Formula E

In 2024/2025, Porsche will contest its sixth Formula E season. In addition to the factory-owned TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, the US customer team Andretti Formula E will compete with the highly efficient Porsche 99X Electric of the latest generation GEN3 Evo. Cupra Kiro is the first Porsche customer team to take part, relying on 99X technology from the previous generation GEN3. In Formula E, the brand gains valuable insights for its production sports cars.