JPlanteX won Japan's E2 race from P3, completing back-to-back victories after Australia. Quenooo29 finished second from pole and ended Season 2 first in the standings, 58 points ahead of the driver who won both closing rounds.
The Japan split was almost comically small beside the season gap: 36 points for JPlanteX and 35 for quenooo29. One point changed hands in the finale; 58 still separated them when the totals stopped at 133 and 191.
P3 beats pole, but only by one championship point
JPlanteX gained two places to win for Mercedes. Quenooo29 moved from P1 to P2 for McLaren, while jak75421 advanced from fourth to third for VCARB. The podium therefore contained three different teams and three different grid routes.
Nothing in the official classification explains why the pole-sitter finished second, so the result needs no invented mechanical fable. Its verified shape is interesting enough: a closing winner in form, a season leader still scoring 35, and a contest too mature for one point to overturn.
Late form arrives after the gap has done its work
After Brazil, quenooo29 led JPlanteX 132-66. JPlanteX then won Australia and Japan, yet the cumulative scores moved to 156-97 and finally 191-133 because quenooo29 kept adding 24 and 35 points of his own.
That gives the E2 finish a useful split-screen. JPlanteX supplied the late sequence, two wins in two rounds. Quenooo29 supplied the season's resistance to it: pole, second place and enough scoring in Japan to lose only one point from a lead already measured in dozens.
