Formula E in Portland/USA: Envision ahead of Andretti and Porsche

Nick Cassidy is the first winner of the Portland E-Prix. The New Zealand driver from the Envision Racing team won the twelfth race of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship on Saturday in the northwestern United States in front of sold-out grandstands. For the 28-year-old, it is already his third victory in Season 9 and his fourth overall success in the fully electric series.

And it was really close - after two safety car phases that brought the field back together, the first 17 drivers at the finish line were within just 7.2 seconds. Ultimately, winner Nick Cassidy had just a 0.294-second lead over Jake Dennis (Andretti), who narrowly defended his lead in the standings, which he had taken over in qualifying, by finishing in second place. Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) came in third in the race.

The track is not easy to drive, emphasized Manfred Sandbichler, Director of Motorsport at Hankook:

"The Portland International Raceway is one of the few permanent tracks in the Formula E calendar. The track surface is very different in some places. Just before Turn 1 at the end of the start-finish straight, where the drivers reach absolute top speed, concrete slabs are installed, as we have already seen at the former Tempelhof Airport in Berlin. The asphalt on the sweeping right-hander after Turn 9, on the other hand, is very washed out and slippery."

Roberto Merhi (Nissan), who came to a halt without drive in Turn 7 and triggered the first safety car phase, and Nico Müller (Abt-Cupra), who had a crash on the back straight shortly after the first safety car phase and triggered the second safety car phase, did not finish.

DS had to start from the pit lane

The two DS Penske drivers, Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne, who had to start from the pit lane due to a penalty, finished in P12 and P13. The team had illegally installed scanners in the pit lane during qualifying, which could read the tire identification of other teams. Thus, DS not only had their qualifying points revoked, but the team also had to pay a fine of 25,000.

Speed record for Jaguar

No Formula E driver had been this fast before. Mitch Evans from the Jaguar TCS Racing team set a new speed record in free practice 1 in Portland. The New Zealander reached a top speed of 276.6 km/h with his Jaguar I-Type 6. This was twelve km/h faster than the previous record set by Sergio Sette Camara in São Paulo.