Porsche has dropped the appeal it lodged after its cars were disqualified from the first Puebla E-Prix earlier this month and also launched a barb at both the FIA and promoter Formula E Operations.
On-the-road winner Pascal Wehrlein and team-mate Andre Lotterer were struck off from the results shortly after the end of the race because Porsche had incorrectly registering its tyres prior to the start.
A Porsche employee inadvertently inputted the choice of Michelins for qualifying instead of the race and violated article 3.2 of the 2020/21 technical regulations and article 36.5 of the sporting regulations.
The Race though understands that the tyre pressures were logged for all sessions meaning that the only fault lay in the team member essentially ticking the wrong box when choosing qualifying or race inputs.
This is a key part in the incident as it would indicate that Porsche could not have gained an advantage with amending any pressures prior to the race.
While Lotterer provisionally finished a lowly 16th, Wehrlein lost what was set to be Porsche’s long awaited first victory in Formula E.
“We work hard to ensure that we learn from our mistakes and improve all the time. We expect the same approach from the FIA and Formula E” :: Porsche
The decision triggered a fierce debate and several volatile meetings between Porsche senior team members and FIA officials which ran in to the second day of the meeting on Sunday.
Porsche immediately indicated that it would appeal the decision but has confirmed to The Race today that it has now dropped the action, providing a statement saying “we have ceased the proceedings and accept the decision.”
The team though maintains its opinion that the disqualification was disproportionate to the offence. It has also criticised the FIA and Formula E in the handling of the penalty and the fall-out from it.
“We remain firmly convinced that the penalty does not fit the offence and it still really hurts that we were denied our first Formula E victory at the Puebla E-Prix,” continued the statement.
“At the same time, we as a team are continuing to work hard to ensure that we learn from our mistakes and improve all the time.
“We expect the same approach from the FIA and Formula E.
“For Porsche, it is important to identify further potential in the championship and to support Formula E with the goal of providing great motor racing – particularly for the fans.”
Porsche also stated that its reasoning for discontinuing the appeal was in part just to draw a line under the incident for the greater good of the championship and its image.
“It is not in our interest to get involved in a protracted process and thus do damage to Formula E and the corresponding environment,” it read.
“We are now looking ahead and focusing on the coming New York City E-Prix, at which we want to back up our performance and once again challenge at the head of the field.”
The loss of the points for the disqualification leaves Porsche rooted to ninth in the teams’ standings, 59 points behind leader Mercedes.
