Antonio Felix da Costa has been sensationally disqualified from the final result of the Misano E-Prix, robbing him of a prophetic and emotional victory. Nissan’s Oliver Rowland has been promoted to winner of the race.
The Portuguese kept his head amongst the chaos to take victory amid mounting speculation regarding his future with Tag Heuer Porsche, but several hours after the race, the stewards concluded that his team used an illegal throttle damper spring, infringing Article 1.3.3 of the International Sporting Code.
This has promoted Oliver Rowland to victory, Jake Dennis into second place, and Max Günther into third.
The FIA have released an explanation, which says:
“The Team Manager and the representative of the manufacturer explained that since the beginning of Season 9, they have not changed the Throttle Damper Spring.
“The Team Manager accepted that the sealed part, as shown in the attachment of the Technical Report 13 was mounted in da Costa’s Car 13 and was sealed in the presence of the Chief Mechanic of the team. The Team Manager stated also that on the Spark list (pedals) the sealed part is not listed.
“He explained that normally, changes of the Spark catalog are highlighted so everybody can see the changes, but not removals.”
Porsche have indicated that they will appeal the decision, and have 96 hours from the decision to do so.
Da Costa responded to the decision in a reply to Formula E’s post confirming the change, saying: “Throttle damper spring was an original part from Spark that was used all of last year and been removed from the rulebook without notification to the teams…how many other cars out there are on this spring?”
If Da Costa is to be believed, the statement leaves many teams open to inspection, and potentially opens a huge Pandora’s box.
Rowland posted: “Race winner again in Formula E, although slightly bitter taste as today was your @afelixdacosta !”
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