- Berlin, Monaco winner Nick Cassidy repeats for Envision Racing.
- Avalanche Andretti fares well in ‘home territory,’ while DS Penske has expensive day.
- Practices produce drama with records, miscues.
New Zealand racer Nick Cassidy gave Envision Racing its third victory in five ABB FIA Formula E races Saturday, capturing the Southwire Portland E-Prix at Oregon’s Portland International Raceway on a day filled with performance records, penalties, and driving gaffes.
Pole sitter and points leader Jake Dennis, of Avalanche Andretti, helped U.S. team owner Michael Andretti shine in the global electric open-wheel series’ only stop in America this year.
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The DS Penske organization and its two championship drivers, Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Éric Vergne drew FIA officials’ attention for the wrong reasons. During the qualifying round Saturday, the team was socked with a €25,000 fine for repeatedly using an RFID scanner at the entrance to the pits that FIA stewards determined could collect real-time data from all race cars for an unfair advantage. Moreover, Vandoorne and Vergne were assessed with a pit lane start, forcing them to the rear of the field, where they had to wait until all of the other cars had passed before entering the course.
Nick Cassidy races to the win at Portland on Saturday.
John Lamparski//Getty Images
Vergne said he learned just before qualifying that he and Vandoorne would be punished, and Vergne said he was irritated by the timing of the notice. As for the infraction, he said, “I didn’t want to know anything about it, and to be honest, I’m a little upset—no because of (the penalty) but because they told me before qualifying. It changed nothing. It would have better to know after (the session).”
Race runner-up Dennis entered the event trailing Tag Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein in the standings by a single point. Now three-time winner Cassidy (who triumphed at Berlin and Monaco) is only one point behind new leader Dennis with the season coming to a close with July doubleheaders at Rome and London. This marked the fifth straight and series-leading eighth podium performance for Dennis. Wehrlein finished ninth and dropped to 18 points off Dennis’ pace.
Antonio Felix Da Costa, of Portugal, filled the podium Saturday with his third-place finish for Porsche.
Jake Dennis
John Lamparski//Getty Images
Dennis Leads Points Standings for Avalanche Andretti
With team owner Michael Andretti looking on—at a venue where the American icon lost on Fathers Day to dad Mario by a mere .070 of a second in an IndyCar-epic 1986 Budweiser/G.I. Joe’s 200—British driver Jake Dennis earned his first pole position of the season.
With that, Dennis passed Pascal Wehrlein, of Tag Heuer Porsche, for the points lead.
Rene Rast set a new Formula E standard in qualifying.
John Lamparski//Getty Images
Practices Definitely not Ho-Hum
The first of two practice sessions saw records and some “oops!” moments.
NEOM McLaren’s Rene Rast, who hadn’t been in the top five in any practice session this season, broke Sacha Fenestraz’s all-time Formula E average speed record with his one-minute, 9.054-second lap on the 1.97-mile (3.17-km) fixed road course. After that, Edoardo Mortara, of Maserati MSG Racing, clocked the first 100-mph average lap in series history. And Jaguar driver Sam Bird became the first driver to break a speed of 275 km per hour (171 mph) for the first time in Formula E history.
(For perspective, the quickest lap at this facility in its current configuration, since 2007, was 57.2143 seconds in IndyCar competition by Penske Racing’s Will Power.)
Norman Nato, of Nissan, led the second practice session with a one-minute, 9.101-second go-’round that was just a fraction of a second slower than Rast’s mark from the first session.
During the first practice, Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Penske) and Dan Ticktum (NIO 333) mowed a little grass on the edge of the Portland International Raceway course that 83 acres of environmental-protection zone. However, both landed in the top five in the first session. Robin Frijns (ABT Cupra) also veered off the course.
In the second session, Vergne again wrestled with the racetrack, bailing on Turn 1 and heading down the escape road – and he did it a second time, kicking up some dust.
EV: Extra Voices
Husband and wife explorers Chris and Julie Ramsey shared with the Portland crowd how they’re showcasing the capability of EVs as they progress during their epic nine-month, 27,000-km journey from the 1823 Magnetic North Pole in the frozen Arctic Ocean to the South Pole in Antarctica in the all-electric Nissan Ariya. The Scottish couple hung out with Nissan team drivers Norman Nato and Sacha Fenestraz . . . Rapper/singer/fashion designer Jaden Smith attended the Formula E race at Brooklyn last year and fell in love with the “net-zero” sport. So, he designed the livery for a GEN3 show car with graphics that reflected his passion for learning and creativity.
Susan Wade
Contributing Editor
Susan Wade has lived in the Seattle area for 40 years, but motorsports is in the Indianapolis native’s DNA. She has emerged as one of the leading drag-racing writers with nearly 30 seasons at the racetrack, focusing on the human-interest angle. She was the first non-NASCAR recipient of the prestigious Russ Catlin Award and has covered the sport for the Chicago Tribune, Newark Star-Ledger, and Seattle Times. She has contributed to Autoweek as a freelance writer since 2016.
Keyword: Formula E Portland Results: Tale of Two U.S.-Owned Teams; Nick Cassidy Wins For Third Time