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Stoffel Vandoorne's trip to the Big Apple could scarcely have been a better one. The Mercedes-EQ driver followed up a fourth-placed finish on Saturday with a podium and second place on Sunday while those around him in the title fight faltered.
There was a clear top four heading into the New York City E-Prix double-header, with Edoardo Mortara (ROKiT Venturi Racing) topping the pile after a podium in Jakarta and a third win of the season in Marrakesh.
READ MORE: The New York E-Prix Round 12 report
Mortara failed to make real inroads in New York, however, after failing to make it through the Groups in qualifying on Saturday, with the Venturi driver also slapped with a post-race penalty which saw him demoted from a fighting fifth position to ninth, while Vandoorne came home fourth.
On Sunday, a brake-by-wire issue scuppered the Venturi driver's qualifying session, leaving him marooned right at the back of the pack for the start of Round 12 and with it all to do again. The best he could manage was to fight to 10th and a single World Championship point with Vandoorne winding up second.
Eleventh in Round 11 for Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) was rescued by a combative drive to third on Sunday, but Jean-Eric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) will be scrabbling for a far better return in London after a none-score at the worst possible moment with the season reaching its climax.
That meant an 11-point advantage for Mortara became an 11-point deficit to Vandoorne come the chequered flag on Round 12.
'No room for any off-days'
"It was a good race, considering what happened yesterday with the big crash to finish race one and the team having to basically rebuild a brand new car for today. The result definitely goes to them, because they gave me a car where everything felt completely fine from FP3 this morning, and then we could just build on it.
READ MORE: What the drivers said after Round 12
"We had a decent qualifying at P5, had a very good start to the race, got ourselves into third and then had to make a move on (Alexander) Sims to try and get into P2. It was hard, because I maybe had a touch more pace than Antonio (Felix da Costa), but there were a couple of corners where I couldn't quite hook the car up and where Antonio was very fast. I just missed that little bit to get close enough to really attempt an overtake, especially on a day like today. It was very important to get P2 on the board and get a lot of points. It's been a good weekend overall for me.
"Four races to go. Like Antonio just said, it's getting so, so close now between everybody, that the moment you don't get the car together you can't have any off days because you're just going to be at the back. The racing is getting so intense every weekend, every qualifying session, every race, even every practice, you need to be on it in order to deliver a result. That's what I'm aiming to continue until the end of the year, and then we'll see if it's good or not good enough."