Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa won Formula E’s inaugural Cape Town E-Prix with an incredible penultimate lap pass on Jean-Eric Vergne.
Da Costa claimed victory from 11th on the grid ahead of the previous race winner Vergne, who started fifth.
Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz led the field away from pole ahead of Maximilian Gunther. The Maserati driver held his place after some side-by-side action with Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy.
Further back there was drama as two drivers exited the race on lap one. Gunther’s team mate Edoardo Mortara, who had started from the pit lane, pulled off and retired.
Meanwhile da Costa’s team mate, championship leader Pascal Wehrlein, suffered a heavy front-left lock-up going into turn 10 and speared into Envision’s Sebastien Buemi. Wehrlein retired, and Buemi dropped to the back of the field.
The race was put under Full Course Yellow on lap two, and Gunther made use of the countdown to FCY, beginning to pass Fenestraz for the lead just as the race was neutralised. He was later put under investigation for the move.
Race control summoned the Safety Car a lap later, and drivers spent three laps running behind it before being released again.
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Due to the hot conditions, several drivers decided to use Attack Mode as soon as possible. Da Costa moved into the top seven on lap nine when NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum moved to activate it for the first time.
Fenestraz dropped behind Cassidy when he went to use Attack Mode, and Cassidy then claimed the race lead when Gunther did the same. Jaguar’s Mitch Evans was just behind, but he then got a drive-through penalty for running over the power limit.
That promoted McLaren’s Rene Rast to fourth, with Vergne and da Costa right on his tail. Rast bided his time before finally committing to using Attack Mode, and it dropped him behind Vergne. Da Costa was able to activate the power boost without losing a position, and he made it into the top five with a pass on Rast when he went for his second deployment.
The lead drivers had not been able to break away, and going into the race’s second half there was a queue of six cars led by Cassidy. Da Costa moved up another position as Vergne used Attack Mode again, and the pair started hassling the top three who had been using up more energy.
Cassidy led the way, and one of his rivals exited proceedings as Gunther crashed out of third place on the run to the first corner. That led to another FCY…
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