The Porsche driver hit the front three laps from home in the 28-lap race after passing Rowland into Turn 5 – a move that proved pivotal as he took his first win since Cape Town last season by less than half a second.
The first-ever Formula E race at the Misano World Circuit Marco Simoncelli proved to be as hectic as anticipated, with drivers not wanting to lead on the long straights and countless overtakes the order of the day.
Immediately from the start the theme of the race became clear as Envision’s Sebastien Buemi from eighth moved into the lead halfway around the opening lap, as almost half the field led at some stage.
The close racing inevitably had its casualties, which turned out to be crucial in the championship battle as standings leader Pascal Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy had to pit for new front wings.
Cassidy was forced to pit on lap six after making contact with Jean-Eric Vergne through the Turn 8/9 chicane, with the DS Penske driver handed a five-second penalty to his race time.
Vergne was in the wars again the following lap as Wehrlein made contact with the rear of the Frenchman’s car through Turn 5, although this time Vergne was blameless.
Similar to his race-winning strategy in Sao Paulo, Sam Bird was the first driver to take both his Attack Mode activations by lap eight and moved to the front before the halfway point before the Briton noticeably upped the pace.
But his charge came to an end eight laps later, when the McLaren driver suffered a left-rear puncture having dropped into the pack. He rejoined before ultimately retiring before the end of the race.
Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23, Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, Antonio Felix da Costa, Porsche, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
With less than six laps remaining da Costa, now at the front of the field, began to defend his position into Turn 1 and the Turn 8/9 chicane, before Rowland swept around the outside a lap later into Turn 1.
Behind the leading pair, Vergne had begun to heavily defend from reigning champion Jake Dennis, allowing Rowland and da Costa to pull away over the closing laps.
Despite failing to win again, Rowland’s fourth podium on the bounce has put the Nissan diver to the top of the standings on 73 points with Andretti-Porsche man Dennis moving into second just five points behind.
The Briton was promoted to third by Vergne’s five-second penalty, which also boosted Maximilian Guenther into fourth after the Maserati MSG driver had stayed in the leading bunch over the closing laps.
ERT claimed an incredible double-points finish as Dan Ticktum scored his first score of the year in fifth with team-mate Sergio Sette Camara seventh, as polesitter Mitch Evans (Jaguar) split the pair.
Vergne was classified eighth as Norman Nato (Andretti) and the second DS Penske of Stoffel Vandoorne completed the top 10.
