Antonio Felix Da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) took his third win in four races in a dramatic Portland E-Prix.
The field stayed close together for the majority of proceedings until Nick Cassidy (Jaguar TCS Racing), Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing), and Da Costa made a break with seven laps to go. Cassidy led but while defending seemingly missed his braking point, hit the grass and spun out of contention on the penultimate lap.
Evans took the chequered flag first, but a five-seconds penalty awarded for an incident in the early stages of the race meant he dropped down the order into eighth and Da Costa inherited the win instead.
“It’s amazing,” Da Costa said post-race. “Firstly, I have to say congrats to Mitch [Evans] because he did win this one on the track and I know how it feels to have one taken away, so hats off to him.
“But obviously we’ll take it. We did everything right today; it’s always hard fighting against two cars of the same team, but we were able to put the Jags under pressure there with Nick [Cassidy] making a mistake at the end.
“But honestly, for me today, I just wanted to keep it clean, be there at the end and then see how it unfolds. It looked like I was going to finish third, but then Nick made a mistake, Mitch has a penalty and we got the win in the end.
“It’s an amazing run of races and I’ll never ever after everything I’ve been through this season take any win or podium for granted. I got lucky today to take this win, so I’ll make sure to enjoy it.
“I’m not sure where Nick ended up in the end and if he scored any points, nor where Mitch ended up, so [in the team championship] these points help us in every way and that’s the goal, to catch them in the team championship. We are leading the constructors’ … three races to go, final stretch!”
The race started off in a peloton style with the field staying close together and the order changing throughout.
Drama already struck early on though when Jack Hughes (Neom McLaren Formula E Team) went onto the dirty part of the track to avoid contact with Evans, ran over the grass and was subsequently forced into the pits with a puncture.
Evans was deemed to have caused a collision and awarded a five-seconds penalty that would prove crucial.
Having conserved energy in the opening stages at the back of the field, Cassidy gradually made his way to the front and was in an ideal position to strike with seven laps to go.
The championship leader stepped up the pace and only Da Costa and Evans were able to match it as the race stretched out. The lead changed Hands between Cassidy and Da Costa a number of times, but things looked near enough decided when Evans slotted into second past Da Costa.
However, instead of calling a team order and securing the win for Cassidy – and with that making a huge step towards both the drivers and the teams championship titles – the Jaguars continued to race each other.
On the defensive line, a driving error saw Cassidy lose control of his car at Turn 11 on the penultimate lap and spin out of contention.
Evans was left in the lead and took the chequered flag first, but the five-seconds penalty meant that the win, in fact, went to Da Costa.
Behind, Robin Frijns (Envision Racing) inherited runner-up spot, having targeted a win after a strong performance in qualifying.
“Job half done,” the Dutchman commented. “We were always at the front, that was the goal, that was the target. I think the strategy calls we made in the background were really good. The team really helped me to stay where I was and finish where I was.
“I’m happy with the race; I just missed that little edge, I think, maybe a set-up that we can change tomorrow. But we are here to fight and we will fight another day tomorrow.
“We’ve been in a downwards spiral; it’s been tough for the team, it’s been tough for the drivers as well. We have a quick car, we knew that, we are quick in FPs most of the times, but in the races we had bad luck, we had punctures, whatever. Now finally something came together, we have a podium, we can celebrate, and hopefully it’ll be another one tomorrow.”
Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) completed the Podium at his Team’s home race: “It feels good,” he said. “I’m really happy finishing third today having started [in P15], really happy with how the race went.
“It’s good for the Team – we’re on Penske’s home soil and I’m happy to deliver a podium today. These are good points also for the team championship. So it was a good day; it started quite bad in qualifying, but I’m happy that we were able to have such a comeback in the race.”
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing) continued Mahindra’s upwards trend in fourth while Nico Muller came home in fifth (ABT Cupra Formula E Team).
Jake Dennis (Andretti Formula E) was sixth from Sam Bird (Neom McLaren Formula E Team) and Evans was eventually ranked eighth ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne (DS Penske).
The only consolation for championship leader Cassidy was that his main title rival Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team) had a nightmare in Portland and finished all the way down in 10th, meaning not much damage was done to his points lead.
DRIVER OF THE DAY: ANTONIO FELIX DA COSTA
At the end of the day, the win was going down between three drivers, only one of them managed to stay clean throughout the race, and that driver was Da Costa.
While the Jaguars ran into trouble, Da Costa stayed out of it and reaped the rewards with an incredible third win in four races.
Crucially, Da Costa brought the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team right back into contention for the teams championship, a title that could have been easily lost to Jaguar TCS Racing. Now separated by 49 Points, it’s all to play for in the final three races.
WHERE THE RACE WAS WON AND LOST
1/27: EVANS HOLDS LEAD AT LIGHTS OUT, HUGHES SNEAKS PAST – It’s lights out and away we go as pole sitter Evans takes the holeshot. However, Hughes sees a chance to overtake straight away and claims the lead.
5/27: NATO CONTINUES TO LEAD – Nato deploys his second attack mode and still continues to lead the race. It’s a nightmare for Hughes meanwhile who gets onto the dirty part of the track in second and has to go over the grass, losing places in the process.
15/27: PENALTY EVANS – Evans is awarded a five-seconds penalty for causing a collision, deeming him responsible for Hughes’ off-track excursion earlier in the race.
18/27: CASSIDY LOOKING TO BOLT? – Cassidy takes the lead and builds the slightest advantage. He keeps lifting at the end of the straight though to conserve energy.
20/27: RACE STRETCHES OUT – Indeed, we have some fastest sector times and the race starts to stretch out.
24/27: EVANS INTO SECOND – Evans moves up into runner-up spot – of course, he has that five seconds penalty and wouldn’t actually finish there, but he can now block Da Costa from attacking Cassidy again.
26/27: CASSIDY SPINS OUT OF CONTENTION – Things get close between Cassidy and Evans. On the defence, Cassidy looks to miss his braking point, hits the grass, and spins out of contention. Evans is leading the race, but, he, of course, has a penalty.
27/27: DA COSTA WINS IN PORTLAND – Evans takes the chequered flag first, but it is Da Costa who wins the race with Evans’ penalty.
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