Formula E

Cassidy wins one of Formula E’s strangest races yet

by Matt Beer
6 min read

Nick Cassidy moved back to within one point of the Formula E world championship lead with victory in a wild and bizarre Portland E-Prix.

Predictions of an even more extreme ‘peloton’ race that had been seen so far in Gen3 this year proved absolutely accurate, as due to the flowing IndyCar circuit offering few lift-and-coast energy-saving opportunities and tucking in the slipstream of other cars being preferable to leading this became FE’s most energy-sensitive race yet.

Jake Dennis, Avalanche Andretti Formula E, Porsche 99 X Electric Gen3 Leads

The majority of the race was a simultaneously cagey and tense affair with drivers fanning out up to five abreast on the main straight, backing off early into corners, avoiding full throttle, taking early attack modes to try to drop positions, weaving to try to break the slipstream for pursuers and lapping well off their maximum potential while also trying to edge closer to the front so they were well positioned when the race burst into a sprint to the finish. It resembled a NASCAR restrictor plate race, but with single-seaters on a road course. Formula E’s official count logged 403 overtaking moves across the 32-lap distance.

Two safety car periods – the first for Roberto Merhi’s Mahindra grinding to a halt and the second a long one for a frightening crash for Nico Mueller, who reported a brake failure after his Abt Cupra-run Mahindra speared over the grass and into the wall on the run towards the final corners – complicated the task further, and led to four additional laps being added.

By the time drivers finally began to unleash their full pace, it was Cassidy’s Envision Jaguar, polesitter Jake Dennis’s Andretti Porsche and the works Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa who’d positioned themselves best and embarked on a fully-fledged victory fight.

Dennis was in the best energy position but Cassidy – who’d started 10th – had track position and was able to keep it, helped by Dennis and da Costa battling behind him. Dennis managed to pass da Costa into the final chicane on the last lap but had no time for a final attack on Cassidy, missing out on victory by 0.294 seconds but retaining a one-point championship lead, having usurped Pascal Wehrlein from the top of the standings with the three bonus points for taking pole.

Wehrlein got stuck in the pack after qualifying 18th and was one of many drivers to sustain wing damage in the messy traffic jams. He finished only eighth and is now 16 points off Dennis’s championship lead going into the decisive Rome and London double-headers.

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Mitch Evans made superb progress from 20th on the grid after a practice problem that required a RESS battery and powertrain change on his Jaguar and prevented him from running in qualifying, though he’s 32 points from the championship lead now.

His Jaguar team-mate Sam Bird let out a series of frustrated radio cries in the closing laps while being instructed to protect title contender Evans, and ended up being shuffled down to seventh on the road by Cassidy’s team-mate Sebastien Buemi and Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther. A five-second time penalty for an incident with Guenther then dumped Bird to 17th in the final results.

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Lucas di Grassi took his first points since his Mexico podium in January with eighth on the road and eventually seventh for Mahindra. Its customer team Abt Cupra got a point for 10th with Robin Frijns too.

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Both DS Penskes had to start from the pitlane as part of the team’s punishment for installing a scanning device in the pit entry to get what the officials described as “live data” from rivals’ cars, though the team said this was limited to tyre barcodes.

Jean-Eric Vergne still got into the top five for a spell, but both Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne were conspicuously low on energy when the figures were revealed going into the closing stages. They fell back to 11th and 12th.

The Nissans again slumped in the race after qualifying extremely well, though for front row starter Sacha Fenestraz this was as much to do with running into team-mate Norman Nato and breaking his front wing as it was poor energy efficiency. Nato, who led repeatedly early on, was the best Nissan in ninth, with Fenestraz 15th and customer team McLaren falling from top six qualifying positions to 14th (Rene Rast) and 18th (Jake Hughes).

Race Results

Pos Name Team Car Laps Laps Led Total Time Fastest Lap Pitstops Pts
1 Nick Cassidy Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 32 16 50m40.629s 1m11.731s 0 25
2 Jake Dennis Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 32 4 +0.294s 1m11.401s 0 21
3 António Félix da Costa TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 32 5 +1.14s 1m11.839s 0 15
4 Mitch Evans Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 32 0 +1.758s 1m11.216s 0 13
5 Sébastien Buemi Envision Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 32 0 +2.22s 1m11.533s 0 10
6 Maximilian Günther Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 32 0 +2.307s 1m11.863s 0 8
7 Lucas Di Grassi Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 32 0 +2.982s 1m11.496s 0 6
8 Pascal Wehrlein TAG Heuer Porsche Porsche 99X Electric 32 0 +3.684s 1m11.774s 0 4
9 Norman Nato Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 32 7 +3.961s 1m11.774s 0 2
10 Robin Frijns ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 32 0 +4.3s 1m11.819s 0 1
11 Jean-Eric Vergne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 32 0 +4.718s 1m11.876s 0 0
12 Stoffel Vandoorne DS Penske DS E-Tense FE23 32 0 +4.982s 1m11.791s 0 0
13 Daniel Ticktum NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 32 0 +5.47s 1m11.746s 0 0
14 René Rast NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 32 0 +6.115s 1m11.562s 0 0
15 Sacha Fenestraz Nissan Nissan e-4ORCE 04 32 0 +6.699s 1m11.495s 0 0
16 Sérgio Sette Câmara NIO 333 Racing NIO 333 ER9 32 0 +7.167s 1m12.118s 0 0
17 Sam Bird Jaguar TCS Racing Jaguar I-TYPE 6 32 0 +7.638s 1m11.99s 0 0
18 Jake Hughes NEOM McLaren Nissan e-4ORCE 04 32 0 +12.977s 1m12.141s 0 0
19 André Lotterer Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric 32 0 +16.051s 1m12.183s 0 0
Edoardo Mortara Maserati MSG Racing Maserati Tipo Folgore 29 0 DNF 1m11.656s 0 0
Nico Müller ABT CUPRA Mahindra M9Electro 9 0 DNF 1m17.592s 0 0
Roberto Merhi Mahindra Racing Mahindra M9Electro 3 0 DNF 1m19.539s 0 0
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