Antonio Felix da Costa won Formula E’s inaugural Cape Town ePrix with some bold overtaking on Saturday while Porsche teammate and championship leader Pascal Wehrlein drew blank after a first-lap collision. Jean-Eric Vergne finished second for DS Penske with Nick Cassidy third for Envision Racing.
The victory in the fifth of 16 races this season was Da Costa’s first of the campaign; who lifted the 2019-20 champion, started the race in 11th place, to fourth overall in the standings so far.
The field was depleted after Mahindra and customer team ABT Cupra withdrew their four cars due to safety concerns about the rear suspension.
Jaguar’s Sam Bird also failed to start due to car damage sustained in a qualifying crash. Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz had taken pole with the fastest lap in Formula E history at an average speed of 154.987 kph. The French-Argentine driver hit the wall on the final lap and crashed out.
Wehrlein, who collided with Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, leads the championship with 80 points to Jake Dennis’s 62 for Avalanche Andretti, with the Briton also failing to score. Vergne is third on 50 and da Costa has 46. The next round is in Sao Paulo on 25 March.
