Wehrlein: 'We want to fight for the title, and Mexico was a very good start'

Wehrlein followed home the Porsche-powered Avalanche Andretti of Jake Dennis in Mexico City, with the lead pair looking pretty much peerless - a good sign for the Stuttgart manufacturer right from the off in GEN3, who finished up with four of their powertrains in the top seven in Round 1.

The result mirrored Porsche's dominance in Mexico last season - the site of the German marque's maiden win and one-two in the series. Wehrlein is keen to double down on a strong start to the GEN3 era and make sure the result isn't a one-off as the field develops apace with the new tech beneath them in Season 9. Porsche's progress since Valencia is an indication of just how fast the development race is going to be this season, and the team's potential to get things just right.

"We were very competitive in all the sessions over the weekend," said Wehrlein. "Actually, qualifying with P6 was the worst session for us. To come back to P2 from P6 during the race was amazing and I think everybody in the team can be proud of their hard work.

"It seems like our pace in the race was really good. Even in qualifying, all the Porsche-powered cars were super strong. So, we hope that it's not a one-off. We will keep working hard - last year, Mexico was our best race so we just need to make sure to keep working hard to understand the car as best as we can and to make progress.

"I know that especially after Valencia, it was super hard for everyone. Everybody had really long days and a big thanks to the team for giving me such a great car to make sure we could start GEN3 so well. We just need to keep working hard. The season is long and there’s a lot of potential in the new cars so we need to keep making progress. This year we want to fight for the championship, and it’s a very good start."

'We've shown we can deliver, now it's about maintaining this level'

Dennis led Wehrlein over the line, with the pair some 11 seconds clear of third-placed Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra Racing). Andre Lotterer, now of Porsche customer team Avalanche Andretti, brought his car home fourth with the second factory car of Antonio Felix da Costa seventh.

Some day, and one to remember for Porsche Motorsport. Both Thomas Laudenbach and Florian Modlinger know the benchmark has been set and it's now about repeating the feat.

“What a tremendous start to the season," said Laudenbach, Vice President Porsche Motorsport. "A one-two victory and four Porsche 99X Electric Gen3 in the top seven – that’s an outstanding result. We’ve shown that we can deliver. Now it’s about maintaining this level for as long as we can over the rest of the season. We’re delighted with this great performance and we hope to continue like this.”

“That was a successful first race day of Season 9," added Modlinger, Director Factory Motorsport Formula E. "Both factory cars qualified in the top 10. In the race, Pascal quickly worked his way up the field and ended up scoring our team’s first podium result of the season.

"Antonio kept getting entangled in duels further back but also managed to progress. We now know where we stand on the racetrack like Mexico compared to the competition. Congratulations to our victorious customer team Avalanche Andretti. In the end, all four Porsche finished in the top seven – we can be very happy about this. It was an outstanding start to the season for Porsche.”