For the third time Jake Dennis finishes a race without points in Formula E Season 9. This time the accident took place in the colorful E-Prix of Sao Paulo, where the Avalanche Andretti driver was hit by the NIO 333 driven by Dan Ticktum.
After the incident, Dennis did not hide his annoyance for the maneuver and strongly charged against his colleague. “At 100 meters behind he simply forgets to brake and crashes into me. It’s typical, I don’t know what else I can do and I don’t know what he was thinking.”
Ticktum, who blamed the track surface on Lap 1 for the incident, folded into the rear of Dennis’ Andretti and caused significant damage to his 99X Electric. This became evident when Dennis then made contact with Pascal Wehrlein’s TAG Heuer Porsche.
Braking Failed to Respond
According to Ticktum’s version, “he was braking even before the car was trying to overtake. It just didn’t stop. This has never happened before in my entire racing career, it just didn’t stop. If I see Jake, I’ll go and apologize because obviously I didn’t mean to do it at all.”
Ticktum’s words weren’t enough for Dennis, however. “I’ve seen him behind the wheel, and he’s in his own little world. I’m quite annoyed with Dan. I don’t know what the situation is with that, he just forgot to brake and crashed into me.”
“It’s painful for me and the team, you spend a week doing full preparation away from home. All the work you do behind the scenes, just for someone to forget to brake, it’s ridiculous,” he lashed out.
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Keeping in the Fight
Dennis also made reference to a similar clash he experienced with NEOM McLaren’s Rene Rast in Hyderabad, noting that both drivers need to start looking ahead instead of in their mirrors all the time.
Despite the Andretti racer’s failure to pick up any points in the last three races, he is optimistic for the upcoming rounds. Winning in Mexico City and securing second in both Diriyah races has given him a points cushion over most of the grid.
“We can still win the championship,” he said. “It’s just frustrating. Right now, I’m upset about the whole situation. There’s still a long way to go. But we’ve probably thrown away around 40 points already, it’s not good enough,” Dennis concluded.