Taylor Barnard is Formula E’s youngest ever race winner after a stunning last-gasp victory in Sunday’s season finale at the ExCeL, snatching the lead from Mahindra’s Nyck de Vries with just two laps remaining.

At 22 years and 76 days old, the DS PENSKE driver claimed his maiden win in front of a home London crowd, heading de Vries and Edoardo Mortara in a Mahindra two-three. It came in the very race that crowned Pascal Wehrlein a two-time World Champion and sealed the Teams’ title for Jaguar TCS Racing.

The timing could hardly have been more poignant. Round 17 marked DS Automobiles’ final appearance in Formula E, and the young Briton sent the French marque out of the championship a winner.

While the title contenders scrapped in the pack, with Wehrlein defending his advantage after winning Saturday’s opening race, Barnard and the two Mahindras broke clear at the front.

The decisive moves came late. Barnard managed his final ATTACK MODE activation to perfection to clear Mortara for second, then threw his car up the inside of de Vries into the final corner with two laps to go, a nailbiting pass that stuck.

Tears, then history

“That’s the first time I’ve cried for a long time,” Barnard admitted afterwards. “To be the youngest race winner feels amazing and to do it in front of the home crowd, it feels unbelievable. I’ve got my whole family here as well. I’m speechless right now, I can’t believe it.

“It was definitely all or nothing moves. I did it in the last corner, both times, actually, in ATTACK MODE so, I think it was just opportunistic, and a tactical, FE move.

“That was the shakiest last lap I think I’m ever gonna have in my career.”

The victory is reward for a difficult campaign at DS PENSKE, the team Barnard joined for Season 12.

“After such a tough season, the team have done so much hard work, we’ve been working in the simulator tirelessly all year,” he said. “It’s never really gone our way, but today, I think the whole team deserves a break, and honestly, thanks to all of them, the guys did absolutely amazing today.”

Behind the flying Briton, the drama was relentless. Contact between Wehrlein and Envision’s Joel Eriksson on Lap 31 left Jake Dennis’ Andretti with race-ending damage and killed off his title challenge, while Mitch Evans’ fourth place fell short of the win the Jaguar driver needed, handing Wehrlein the crown.

Barnard’s breakthrough also gave a star-studded ExCeL crowd something to savour, with Damon Hill, Emily in Paris stars Lucien Laviscount and Lucas Bravo, boxer Viddal Riley and rapper AJ Tracey among those trackside for the venue’s Formula E send-off, before the London E-Prix moves to Brands Hatch for the Gen4 era.