Portland E-Prix: Da Costa wins as Cassidy and Evans throw away victory
A Nick Cassidy error and time penalty for Mitch Evans meant Jaguar threw away victory in the Portland E-Prix, allowing Antonio Felix da Costa to take back-to-back Formula E wins.
Championship leader Cassidy was on course to take his third win of the season and with it, put one hand on the title at the Portland International Raceway.
But on the penultimate lap and in the lead, the Kiwi ran wide through the fast left of Turn 10, putting him offline through the next sweeping right that sent him into a spin as he finished out of the points.
Evans had been directly behind his team-mate and took the chequered flag first on-the-road, but the Kiwi had been handed a five-second penalty for an earlier collision with Jake Hughes.
It meant Evans, who had started on pole, slipped down to eighth in the final classification as da Costa claimed another win having secured victory last time out in Shanghai and which also makes it three wins from the last four races.
Cassidy had decisively taken the lead on lap 23 from da Costa having run under the radar for the opening segment as he circulated on the fringes of the top 10 in order to save energy.
He only hit the front for the first time on lap 12 after starting in 10th, and immediately took his first Attack Mode before taking his second activation on lap 17.
Rejoining second, the pace of the leading runners noticeably increased as Cassidy and da Costa swapped positions several times over the following laps, with Evans keeping a watching brief.
Phil Ingram, Head of Performance, Jaguar TCS Racing, Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing
Phil Ingram, Head of Performance, Jaguar TCS Racing, Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing
Photo by: Simon Galloway / Motorsport Images
But at the start of lap 24, Evans swept to the outside of da Costa at Turn 1 and moved ahead of the eventual race winner, and now directly behind Cassidy.
Any chance of victory for Evans, though, had all but evaporated earlier in the race after making contact with Hughes on the back straight.
The contact damaged Evans' front wing and led to the McLaren driver suffering a puncture as Evans was handed a five-second penalty.
Despite being under no immediate threat for track position, Cassidy began to take defensive lines in the build-up to his mistake.
Cassidy’s error and finishing position of 19th offered the perfect opportunity for Pascal Wehrlein to close the 25-point gap to his title rival.
But the Porsche driver failed to feature in the leading group for much of the 27-lap race, becoming the final driver to take both Attack Modes, and could only finish 10th to reduce Cassidy’s points lead to 24 points.
The German also remains under investigation for an alleged collision with Maserati MSG’s Maximilian Guenther during the race.
Classified second, Robin Frijns had featured amongst the leading runners for much of the race as the podium was completed by DS Penske’s Jean-Eric Vergne, who had climbed from 14th.
Mahindra’s Edoardo Mortara, Nico Muller (Abt) and Andretti’s Jake Dennis completed the top six, the reigning champion having featured towards the front in the early running before slipping back in the pack.