Title goes to London as Da Costa does the Portland double

Antonio Felix da Costa mastered the peloton yet again, to throw himself into shock title contention. da Costa completed the back-to-back wins in Portland, whilst Nick Cassidy failed to score a point for the second consecutive race. 

In what was another dramatic race at the Portland International Raceway, da Costa navigated the chaos which caught out Cassidy, who has a slim lead ahead of the Formula E finale in London.

Da Costa has now won four of the last five races and is a title outsider, whilst Robin Frijns and Mitch Evans completed the podium. Pascal Wehrlein finished fourth, with five drivers being in title contention going into London. 

Evans and Wehrlein are just 12 points adrift of Cassidy. 

Race start – Wehrlein damage

Jean-Eric Vergne started from pole position having defeated Saturday’s winner Antonio Felix da Costa in the final duel, making him the record-holder for most poles in Formula E. 

Seconds before the race started, all eyes were on the sky, as dark clouds suddenly appeared. In terms of the championship fight, Nick Cassidy started in sixth, Pascal Wehrlein in seventh and Mitch Evans in P11.

The race was one-lap shorter than Saturday’s, which was a chaotic peloton affair. As the lights went out, it was da Costa who made the best start and led out of the opening corners, whilst Cassidy allowed himself to fall towards the back. 

The opening laps were 1.5 seconds faster than the pace in race one, with both Andrettis having tumbled to the back and multiple seconds off the back. In the title fight, there was drama on lap six, as Wehrlein lost his front wing after hitting Edoardo Mortara, but managed to continue.

It was disappointment for Sebastian Buemi who found himself in the lead on the ninth lap, as he received a drive-through penalty for a technical infraction. This promoted Vergne into the lead.

Cassidy drama

Lap times improved considerably as the race hit its halfway point, resulting in frenetic overtakes and incidents. It was all triggered by Wehrlein’s front wing damage, as his front wing fell off at high-speed and went under Sam Bird’s car behind. 

A lap later and several further incidents happened resulting in front wing damage. Crucially, it involved both Cassidy and Dennis, who were two of five drivers who pitted for repairs. Caio Collet, Nyck de Vries and Jake Hughes were the others. It appeared like Cassidy’s hopes were over.

However, with eight laps remaining and with Frijns leading from Da Costa, Wehrlein, Vergne and Evans, a safety car was triggered for significant debris across the circuit. This brought the drivers who pitted back into the frame. A two-lap safety car concluded on lap 20, leaving seven laps remaining.

Frijns restarted the race but immediately fell behind da Costa, with the pace having been red-hot. Evans was the driver on the move, and overtook Vergne and Wehrlein for third with four laps to go.

Third quickly became second, as the Jaguar driver worked his way past Frijns. Evans was flying, whilst Cassidy remained down in 15th. However, Frijns reclaimed second on the penultimate lap, whilst da Costa remained in the lead. 

It was a two-horse race for the win between da Costa and Frijns as the final lap was started, whilst Evans sat in third. Frijns threatened but da Costa held on, to claim a fourth win in the last five races. Evans completed the podium, ahead of Wehrlein in fourth. Cassidy failed to score a point.