After some wild overtakes in the closing laps of the Cape Town E-Prix, Da Costa wins ahead of Vergne and Cassidy in P3.
Credit: Formula E Media Bank / Sam Bloxham
It’s time for the race in beautiful Cape Town. Who can we expect to emerge victorious in the final duel in South Africa?
Ahead of the qualifying session earlier today, we’ve been hit with a couple of sad news. Both Mahindra and their customer team ABT Cupra withdrawing from todays round. Suspected rear suspension safety concerns ruled them out from participating. Sam Bird, after his shunt in the qualifying Group A will not partake in the race after suffering from too much damage to his car.
Cape Town has nothing but delivered so far in terms of excitement. The qualifying session seen Sacha Fenestraz take pole in only his 6th race in Formula E, ahead of Günther and the two Kiwis: Cassidy and Evans. Both of them have found their rhythm so far this weekend in their Jaguar-powered cars, but can they translate this pace to the race setting? Cassidy stood on the podium last race in Hyderabad, will he repeat those results on the sunny streets of Cape Town?
Shortly before the race, we’ve got a look on the starting grid. As it stands, the drivers will line up in this order: Fenestraz, Gunther, Cassidy, Evans, Vergne, Wehrlein, Buemi, Tictum, Nato, Rast, Da Costa, Vandoorne, Hughes, Dennis, Lotterer, Sette Camara, and Mortara from P17. Who will claim the win today?
The lights go green in Cape Town! Cassidy gets a fantastic start, but Gunther manages to recover his 2nd place. So far, the top 5 places remain as they started. Vandoorne looses to Hughes who jumps into 12th. Wehrlein hits Buemi! The championship leader is out of the race on the opening lap! What a start of the E-Prix! Yellow flags out, and soon after, full course yellow. Mortara in Maserati MSG Racing is out too! This track has been absolutely RUTHLESS on the drivers! Safety car deployed. Rast managed to climb up 4 places, and Fenestraz lost to Gunther who overtook him for P1.
After Wehrlein’s car has been towed away, we’ve got a green light again. Fenestraz begin his hunt and so are Cassidy and Evans. We’re looking racy out there! Let’s see what strategic decisions will be made along the way, considering the race will get extended due to the safety car period. Buemi takes the first attack mode and manages to overtake Sette Camara, who also took his. Evans is under investigation for overpower, which can get him into big trouble later on. Yikes.
Vandoorne, Dennis and Lotterer take their first attack modes, Vandoorne for 1 minute and the Avalanche Andretti drivers for 2 minutes. Soon after also Vergne and Dictum decide to take theirs. We’ll see even more drivers take the attack mode in the next couple of minutes. It appears that Günther actually took the P1 away from Fenestraz during full course yellow, will this have repercussions later?
Fenestraz takes his attack mode and gets overtaken by Cassidy, and Evans follows the same route as Fenestraz. Cassidy manages to hold onto P2, and soon into P1 after Günther takes attack mode. The German manages to stay in front of Fenestraz, even though they went side-by-side. Will the French be able to claim his position back?
Evans gets a drive-through penalty. The Jaguar team just can’t seem to get a break this season. So far Günther manages to stay clear of Fenestraz, but both of them are looking feisty on track today. Cassidy takes his first attack mode and manages to stay clear of the two drivers behind him. The Kiwi gets his chance on leading the race for the first time. Günther takes his second attack mode and drops behind Fenestraz, now being chased by Vergne behind him.
Fenestraz manages to keep up the pace of Cassidy in front, steadily sitting at the rear wing of his car and showing in his mirrors. Rast climbs up to P6, a really good pace from the Neom McLaren team, with Hughes in P10. Da Costa manages to get into P4, the only remaining Tag Heuer Porsche car in the race, being chased by Vergne in P5. Dennis gets a drive-through penalty for not respecting minimum tyre pressure. The man that is second in the championship gets the heat of Cape Town. Two leaders of the championship with big troubles today.
Günther crashes! Both Maseratis in the walls today. James Rossiter surely won’t be pleased with that. And there we go with the second full course yellow. As it seems, both Cassidy and Fenestraz manage to take their attack modes before the full course yellow team. Fenestraz falls back to P4, getting overtaken by Da Costa and Vergne.
Cassidy sprints out with the green flag, being chased by Da Costa. Can he manage to stay ahead of the Portuguese? Fenestraz chases down Vergne, to climb up the positions he lost to attack mode. Da Costa manages to pull an overtake of the weekend and takes P1 from Cassidy. What an OUTRAGEOUS move! And he disappears! Vergne manages to take over Cassidy, who drops to P3. Da Costa goes for attack mode and MISSES IT! HE MISSES THE ACTIVATING POINT! That might be his podium chance out of the window. There is no way this race can get more dramatic than this.
Da Costa goes for attack mode again and drops to P2. What can he do now in the closing stages? Four laps remaining, as the race gets extended by two laps. Fenestraz is into third two laps before the end, dropping Cassidy to P4. The Kiwi will do everything he can to get his position back. The battle between Da Costa and Vergne is intensifying corner by corner. DA COSTA DOES IT AGAIN! A MAN ON THE MISSION IN CAPE TOWN! He sends it just perfectly, what a wild move from the Portuguese! Can Vergne have any say in this? Fenestraz shuns it into wall, and Cassidy is back in P3! Da Costa stays clear of Vergne and WINS FOR PORSCHE FOR THE FIRST TIME ON THE STREETS OF CAPE TOWN STARTING IN P11! Vergne has to give in and claim P2, while Cassidy manages to get another podium for Envision!
What an absolute roller coaster of a race. Absolutely remarkable stuff. Our team over here might have got a headache from it. But it was all worth it. Cape Town has absolutely rose to the challenge and delivered. One of the best finale to a race in Formula E history, for sure.
