Antonio Felix da Costa pulled out all the stops to win Saturday's inaugural Cape Town ePrix in style.
After starting 11th on the grid the Tag Heuer Porsche driver scythed his way through the field and into the top three by lap 20. On Lap 21 South Africa's first Formula E race was hit by a Full Course Yellow, which saw the top four cars split by just 1.5 seconds.
Da Costa soon moved his way up to second position and on lap 24 pulled off a ballsy pass to steal the lead from Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy at the gnarliest part of the track: the Turn Seven, Eight and Nine combo that had claimed three cars earlier on in the weekend.
The experienced Porsche driver then built a big enough gap to take his second mandatory Attack Mode and hold onto the lead. Unfortunately, he missed the activation loop, which handed DS Penske's Jean-Éric Vergne the lead a lap later.
Unperturbed, Da Costa put the hammer down and steadily closed in on his former teammate, whittling the gap down to just half a second after the full 30 laps.
With two additional laps added on to the race because of time lost to cautions, the Porsche driver was able to continue his charge and on the penultimate lap — much to the Cape Town crowd's audible delight — pulled off the same nail-biting overtaking manoeuvre as he did before through the fearsome Turn Seven, Eight and Nine complex.
From here he managed to hold onto the lead until the checkered flag unfurled at the end of lap 32; a display of driving prowess that secured Da Costa his first win of the year.
Cassidy finished the race in third position after Nissan's Sacha Fenestraz crashed into the wall on the final lap while Neom McLaren's crossed the line fourth. Fifth went to Envision Racing's Sebastien Buemi who the day before had wrecked his car in the first practice.
Meanwhile, the luckless Jaguar TCS Racing Team had another torrid time of things with Sam Bird unable to start the race after it transpired that his car was too heavily damaged in a crash in qualifying.
Mitch Evans started the race fourth on the grid and was at one stage looking like a strong contender for the win until he had to serve a drive-through penalty for an overpower violation, dropping down the field and out of contention.
Da Costa's teammate Pascal Wehrlein in the sister Porsche suffered equal misfortune as he crashed out the first lap.
Despite this blunder, he's still comfortably in command of the drivers' world championship with a tally of 80 points.
Jake Dennis is second with a total of 62 points and Verne is third with 50 points.
Da Costa is now fourth overall with 46 points.
Next up, Formula E will head to Brazil to tackle the Sao Paulo ePrix on March 25.
Porsche's Antonio Felix da Costa dominates the Cape Town ePrix
Motoring writer
Image: Formula E
Antonio Felix da Costa pulled out all the stops to win Saturday's inaugural Cape Town ePrix in style.
After starting 11th on the grid the Tag Heuer Porsche driver scythed his way through the field and into the top three by lap 20. On Lap 21 South Africa's first Formula E race was hit by a Full Course Yellow, which saw the top four cars split by just 1.5 seconds.
Da Costa soon moved his way up to second position and on lap 24 pulled off a ballsy pass to steal the lead from Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy at the gnarliest part of the track: the Turn Seven, Eight and Nine combo that had claimed three cars earlier on in the weekend.
The experienced Porsche driver then built a big enough gap to take his second mandatory Attack Mode and hold onto the lead. Unfortunately, he missed the activation loop, which handed DS Penske's Jean-Éric Vergne the lead a lap later.
Unperturbed, Da Costa put the hammer down and steadily closed in on his former teammate, whittling the gap down to just half a second after the full 30 laps.
With two additional laps added on to the race because of time lost to cautions, the Porsche driver was able to continue his charge and on the penultimate lap — much to the Cape Town crowd's audible delight — pulled off the same nail-biting overtaking manoeuvre as he did before through the fearsome Turn Seven, Eight and Nine complex.
From here he managed to hold onto the lead until the checkered flag unfurled at the end of lap 32; a display of driving prowess that secured Da Costa his first win of the year.
Cassidy finished the race in third position after Nissan's Sacha Fenestraz crashed into the wall on the final lap while Neom McLaren's crossed the line fourth. Fifth went to Envision Racing's Sebastien Buemi who the day before had wrecked his car in the first practice.
Meanwhile, the luckless Jaguar TCS Racing Team had another torrid time of things with Sam Bird unable to start the race after it transpired that his car was too heavily damaged in a crash in qualifying.
Mitch Evans started the race fourth on the grid and was at one stage looking like a strong contender for the win until he had to serve a drive-through penalty for an overpower violation, dropping down the field and out of contention.
Da Costa's teammate Pascal Wehrlein in the sister Porsche suffered equal misfortune as he crashed out the first lap.
Despite this blunder, he's still comfortably in command of the drivers' world championship with a tally of 80 points.
Jake Dennis is second with a total of 62 points and Verne is third with 50 points.
Da Costa is now fourth overall with 46 points.
Next up, Formula E will head to Brazil to tackle the Sao Paulo ePrix on March 25.
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