Antonio Felix da Costa has won the first Misano E-Prix in this weekend’s double-header, the same week that speculation around his future at Tag Heuer Porsche has been laid bare.
The Portuguese made the most of his experience to play his strategy perfectly, climbing from 13th place to take his first win of the season, the sixth different winner from six races.
Nissan’s Oliver Rowland claimed a fourth successive podium finish, running da Costa close until the very end to secure second. Andretti’s Jake Dennis claimed the final podium spot after starting 18th. Maserati MSG Racing’s Max Günther finished fourth to maintain his own title aspirations, with pole-sitter Mitch Evans unable to maintain enough race pace to make a challenge for the win, finishing sixth behind a very impressive Dan Ticktum in fifth.
The title’s main players, Pascal Wehrlein and Nick Cassidy ran into trouble both colliding with Jean-Eric Vergne, causing Cassidy to retire and Wehrlein to finish 19th.
HOW THE RACE UNFOLDED
Evans made the best possible start from pole, leading away into turn one, however this was the last moment of normality, with a heavily-predicted peloton-style race coming to fruition, and with bells on. Cars at some points, were four abreast on a track much wider than usual for Formula E, and racing resembled a booze-fuelled gaming lobby, the constant changing of order likely to have been hard for the drivers to keep-up with, let alone the fans watching. Similar to last year’s affair in Portland, overtaking was at a premium, but academic, as a balance between track position and battery conservation becoming the primary thought for the drivers.
Sébastien Buemi led the early moments, with Cassidy also joining-in. Da Costa lead early-on having sailed through the order, with Cassidy’s race effectively over after colliding with Vergne, the Frenchman receiving a five second penalty for the incident.
One lap later, Vergne was getting close with Wehrlein this time, the second Porsche receiving damage of its own and, like Cassidy, being forced to pit. At this stage, Sam Bird moved into the front, electing to take a strategic approach similar to one he took in São Paulo, opting for Attack Mode early on and switching the lead several times. His NEOM McLaren team-mate Jake Hughes, who was forced to start at the back after being disqualified from his fourth spot on the grid this morning, found himself in eighth on lap eight.
Vergne, despite his penalty effectively blowing his chances of a victory, still made a race of things, performing a double-overtake to lead at a third distance, with Dennis now up to fourth. Buemi was still in contention, leading on lap 13.
Tokyo victor Max Günther was in the wars on lap 15, launching over the sausage kerbs as he did in qualifying. Bird looked to be firmly in contention but on lap 17, a puncture would bring his chances to a swift end.
At this stage, Rowland could now be taken seriously as a contender for victory, leading several times of over the course of the next ten laps. Behind the main leaders, the ERTs of Ticktum and Sergio Sette Cámara made their way into the top six, their energy-saving impressive. Cassidy would opt to retire the car, already well out of contention.
As the race entered the final few laps, Rowland and da Costa began to pull clear of everyone else, the winner now almost a certainty between the two, but da Costa was able to create a buffer that would be enough to prevent Rowland from seriously challenging on the final lap. And with speculation swirling like the coastal Adriatic winds around his future at Porsche, da Costa made a serious statement by taking the chequered flag for the first time since Cape Town last season.
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