Formula E

Da Costa wins for Porsche in another wild Berlin race

by Valentin Khorounzhiy
3 min read

Porsche factory driver Antonio Felix da Costa took victory in another chaotic Berlin E-Prix contest at the revised Tempelhof venue.

Though the planned race distance was reduced by two laps to 38 for this race compared to Saturday, in theory reducing the amount of energy saving required, drivers were unconvinced the nature of the race would be particularly different - and they were proven correct.

Again, an initial safety car interruption was required around a quarter of a way through, as local hero Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG) found himself in the wall for the second day running - this time rejoining the race a lap down despite reporting hand pain, before ultimately parking up in the pits.

And again, another big collision and another safety car interjection was required in the second half of the race, as former team-mates Sacha Fenestraz and Norman Nato came to blows.

Nato, who partnered Fenestraz at Nissan last year, counter-attacked his compatriot shortly after being overtaken and ended up planting his Andretti car into the side of the Nissan.

It promoted sarcastic applause from Fenestraz, whose race was over on the spot, while Nato - who did manage to rejoin - argued that Fenestraz hadn't left him space. But this feel on deaf ears - as the stewards assessed him a 10-second penalty.

Da Costa was the race leader during both of the safety car interruptions - and ultimately had the energy savings to make the race his, overtaking Jaguar's Mitch Evans with eight laps of the race remaining and breaking away.

It marked the under-pressure Portuguese driver's second on-the-road win of the season - but his first, at Misano, didn't stand in the record books, erased due to a technical infringement.

Saturday standout Nick Cassidy protected his championship lead with a second-place finish, despite some apparent dissatisfaction at the team tactics, while grabbing a handy fastest-lap bonus point to boot.

Like Cassidy, Nissan's Oliver Rowland made it two podiums across the two days of track action.

Da Costa's works Porsche team-mate Pascal Wehrlein had two separate run-ins with customer Andretti cars in which he was pushed against the outside wall, but stayed in the race and ultimately fought off polesitter Jake Dennis - Andretti Porsche's reigning champion - for fourth on the final lap. It means he leaves Berlin 11 points behind Cassidy.

Dennis had major front wing endplate damage after colliding with Wehrlein late on, and was followed across the finish line by Evans - who again took his second attack mode activation much later than any of his rivals.

Jehan Daruvala made up for a botched Saturday race with a fine seventh-place finish for Maserati MSG, while the championship's youngest-ever driver Taylor Barnard rounded out a remarkably complete weekend with an eighth place.

Barnard - replacing the injured Sam Bird at McLaren - was one substitute driver to score points, and Envision Jaguar's Joel Eriksson was another, tripling his Formula E career points tally with the two he earned for ninth place.

Jean-Eric Vergne took home 10th for DS Penske, his team-mate Stoffel Vandoorne ruled out by a broken front wing after hitting the in-the-wars Fenestraz.

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Email
  • More Networks