Formula E: Da Costa lands first win of Season 9 in immense Cape Town E-Prix
TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix Da Costa stormed his way from eleventh on the grid to claim his first win of Season 9 in Cape Town.
The former World Champion had endured a contrasting start to life at Porsche, failing to score any points in his first two races before landing a third-place finish in Hyderabad.
The Portuguese driver went two better this time out, executing a couple of astonishing overtakes to seal the victory and becoming the winner of the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix.
It took Da Costa just 20 laps to force himself into the top three, and on lap 21 a full course yellow squeezed the pack together and put the top spot within sight of Da Costa.
Just a few laps later, Da Costa produced an incredible move to pass Cassidy in second, slipping through the tightest of gaps at turns 7, 8 and 9, a combination of corners that had seen a number of incidents throughout the weekend.
With the bit seemingly between his teeth, Da Costa wasted no time in making his move for the lead and, on lap 21, produced a carbon copy of his overtake on Cassidy, this time squeezing through the tightest of gaps to overtake Jean Éric-Vergne.
Further down the grid, Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz, who had qualified on pole for the first time in his Formula E career, had made his way past Nick Cassidy and into a podium position, but on the final lap, the French-Argentina hit the wall to bring his race to a premature end, and Cassidy gleefully regained his place in the top three.
Only 13 drivers finished the race, with both Edoardo Mortara and Max Gunther of Maserati MSG Racing retiring, along with Jaguar’s Sam Bird (who failed to start the race after a huge shunt in qualifying) and Porsche’s Pascal Werhlein, who had led the Championship standings heading into the weekend.
It was still a weekend to celebrate for Porsche, however, with Da Costa securing his first win of the season to extend the manufacturer’s lead in the Team’s Standings.
Jean Éric-Vergne of DS Penske finished in second ahead of Envision’s Nick Cassidy. Rounding out the point scoring positions were René Rast of McLaren, Seb Buemi of Envision, Dan Ticktum of NIO 333, Stoffel Vandoorne of DS Penske, Norman Nato of Nissan, Andre Lotterer of Avalanche Andretti and Jake Hughes of McLaren.
