Portland E-Prix: Da Costa fastest in FP2 as Fenestraz causes red flag
Antonio Felix da Costa topped the second Formula E practice session ahead of the Portland E-Prix double-header this weekend, which was disrupted by a red flag after Sacha Fenestraz crashed.
Da Costa posted a 1m08.787s that left him quickest, with the Porsche driver entering the American event having won two races from the last three, although the German manufacturer’s appeal into his Misano disqualification was rejected earlier this week.
A red flag was called inside the first nine minutes after Fenestraz lost control through the fast left-right sequence of Turns 10/11, the Nissan driver sent into a spin across the grass before hitting the barrier on the outside of the circuit.
Despite suspension damage, Fenestraz was able to recover back to the pits with the session resuming after a six-minute stoppage in order to clean up debris, with the Nissan team in a race against time to repair the damage ahead of qualifying later today.
Fenestraz was not the only driver to take to the grass through the quick sequence of corners at the end of the back straight, with both Jaguars of Mitch Evans and championship leader Nick Cassidy each having an excursion but not finding the barrier either time.
Envision’s Robin Frijns occupied top spot when running resumed having set a 1m09.436s but this was quickly usurped by several drivers, with McLaren’s Sam Bird moving top on a 1m09.196s as the 30-minute session moved into its second phase.
Da Costa became the first driver to dip below the 1m09s barrier, posting a 1m08.877s before the Portuguese driver lowered the benchmark further to a 1m08.787s shortly after.
Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Norman Nato, Andretti Global, Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
Photo by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Images
This stood as the best time for the rest of the session and 0.126s clear of Norman Nato with Cassidy third.
Reigning champion Jake Dennis occupied fourth ahead of Andretti’s home race, with Caio Collet finishing an impressive fifth ahead of his Formula E race debut as the Brazilian replaces Oliver Rowland at Nissan, the Briton suffering from an illness.
The DS Penske’s of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne finished 19th and 21st respectively after the team was fined €5000 the previous day for a guest being in a restricted area without the correct pass.
Nato had topped Friday afternoon’s FP1 session with a 1m09.079s, which left him 0.174s clear of Evans with Cassidy a further 0.033s in arrears.
But the Andretti driver has been handed a 10-place grid penalty ahead of Saturday’s race having incurred his third reprimand for driving infringements in the same season. This was after the Frenchman exceeded the full course yellow speed limit during the session.
Formula E Portland - Practice results
FP2
FP1