No more Monaco 'struggles', Dennis back in the hunt after podium

All of Dennis' points this season have come from podium finishes this season, and with two on the bounce he's managed to keep his championship hopes alive, sitting in third only four points off Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche) in second and within a race win off new standings leader Nick Cassidy (Envision Racing)

After falling into what Dennis described as a 'dark place', a podium in the second Berlin running and another podium last time out around the legendary streets of Monaco has reignited his championship challenge and brought a smile back to the Avalanche Andretti driver.

For the race, a clip of the wall in qualifying meant that Dennis was out of contention for the Duels and forced to start from 11th on the grid - usually a daunting prospect around the challenging streets of Monaco, but as we've seen in every race so far in Season 9, no driver has yet to win from pole.

Dennis made quick work with some daring overtakes, including a late lunge on the Nissan of Sacha Fenestraz at Sainte Devote to put himself right up with the leaders and contention for the win.

Despite running with two percent extra energy over the leaders, Dennis was unable to find a way by Cassidy or Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) and had to settle for the third step - a notable achievement for the Andretti name to secure its first-ever podium at one of motorsport's crown jewels, having never achieved it as a team in Formula E, nor when Mario or Michael Andretti were racing in F1.

Speaking after the race, Dennis said: "In qualifying, I hit the wall on my first push lap, so that was a bit of a disaster and bent the car to make things extremely difficult for myself. So, I missed the Duels and started 11th, but I returned the favour to the boys for fixing it and got them some champagne."

"It's been a tiring day but it's all been made worth it with that podium in the end. It was a difficult race for sure but I think we optimised it pretty well considering we started in P11, but happy to see the chequered flag in the end and get those 16 points."

In a race that saw 116 overtakes, Dennis added a fair few to that tally himself. Asked on his favourite, her said it was hard to remember, but did add, "I did a couple of good ones on Sacha [Fenestraz], we kept it pretty clean between me and him, and there were quite a few going on in turns five and six."

The Brit ranks this finish among his favourites in Formula E, he said: "It's Monaco, it's such an iconic podium. To be honest, this race has not been kind to me over the years, I've always really struggled here and to come away from here with a podium is great."

Perhaps, Dennis' change in fortunes was down to the fact that the infamous admin behind the 'Jake Dennis Struggles' account was in attendance at the 2023 Monaco E-Prix. Avalanche Andretti might want to consider extending an invitation for more races...