Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: Cape Town E-Prix

  • Round 5 – Cape Town E-Prix

    Round 5 is here, and we are in Cape Town South Africa for a first time appearance, lets take a look at how the weekend went.

    FP1-

    Maserati’s MSG Racing’s Edoardo Mortara topped the timesheets with a time of 1m 09.700s.

    It’s the first time in Season 9 that one of the Maserati cars have topped a session, despite the team looking strong in pre-season testing. Mortara’s teammate, Maximilian Guenther finished the session in seventh.

    Fresh from a disappointing result last time out in Hyderabad, Jaguar’s Sam Bird was on a mission and finished the session in second, 0.158s off Mortara’s time. Sacha Fenestraz slotted into third on the timesheets to round out the top 3.

    But minutes into the start of the session, Sebastian Buemi brought out the red flags after a heavy impact with the walls of the rapid street circuit between Turn 9 and 10.

    FP2-

    The final session before qualifying ahead of the Cape Town E-Prix, Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy headed the pack with a 1m 08.118s.

    Cassidy was 0.307s ahead of Maserati MSG Racing’s Edoardo Mortara and some 1.6 seconds faster than the pace set in Free Practice 1’s session.

    Rounding out the top three was NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum with an impressive lap time. As well as the Jaguar cars looking rapid, Mitch Evans and Sam Bird were fourth and fifth.

    Qualifying-

    Nissan’s, Sacha Fenestraz sealed his first Julius Baer Pole Position for the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix, as well as setting the fastest-ever lap in the process.

    Fenestraz managed to beat the Maserati of Maximilian Guenther by over four tenths of a second to set a stunning time of 1m 07.848s.

    Disappointment came for all four Mahindra-powered cars as the quartet were withdrawn due to rear suspension safety concern. As well as a big shunt fro Edoardo Mortara and Sam Bird which brought out the red flag at the end of Group B.

    Round 5-

    Antonio Felix da Costa drove a storming race from 11th on the grid to his first win for TAG Heuer Porsche, after producing a copy of one of the best moves you’ll ever see for the lead, on two seperate occasions.

    The season 6 champion returned to form last time out with third in Hyderabad but this was something else in a properly attritional race at another meg, all new track with only 13 drivers making it to the finish line.

    With the quartet out front nose to tail thanks to Guenther clipping a wall and pulling the car over into retirement, throwing that caution, Cassidy headed Fenestraz by less than half a second with da Costa and Vergne for company.

    On Lap 24, Da Costa produced an outrageous pass to steal the lead from Cassidy at the trickiest part of the track – the Turn 7,8 and 9 combo.

    The Porsche driver then pulled enough gap to take his second mandatory ATTACK MODE and retake the lead but he missed the activation loop.

    Meanwhile, Fenestraz had made it by Cassidy to take a potential podium but heartbreakingly, the Nissan driver hit the wall on the final lap.

    The full top 10 are: P1: da Costa, P2: Vergne, P3: Cassidy, P4: Rast, P5: Buemi, P6: Ticktum, P7: Vandoorne, P8: Nato, P9: Lotterer and P10: Hughes.

  • Cape Town Preview

    The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship makes it two brand new events in a fortnight, with the series’ maiden visit to South Africa and Cape Town for Round 5.

    The inaugural Cape Town E-Prix is Formula E’s first sub-Sahraran African event, with the spectacular Table Mountain providing the backdrop for the second of three consecutive events at new venues to the championship.

    The Mother City’s Green Point district provides the location for the high-speed 2.921km circuit, snaking around the DHL Stadium and skirting the coastline.

    It’s a fast-paced track, with bumpy braking zones, a tight chicane at Turns 4, 5 and 6 with a pacy, eye of the needle section midway around the lap.

    cape-town-track-map-details

    The Championship-

    With a quarter of the season complete, lets take a look at who is leading the championships.

    It’s TAG Heuer Porsche leading the Teams’ Championship, and Pascal Wehrlein leading the Drivers’ Championship. A double-win for the German in Diriyah followed a podium in the season-opener in Mexico City.

    Porsche didn’t have it their way in Hyderabad and neither did Jake Dennis in the Avalanche Andretti. The Brit was uncermoniously removed from a potential top three finish by an overenthusiastic move from Rene Rast.

    The resulting 16th-placed finish proved costly for Dennis – who’d won Round 1 in Mexico and followed it up with two 2nd places in Diriyah – allowed Wehrlein to extend his advantage.

    Jean-Eric Vergne kickstarted his and DS Penske’s season as they picked up the race win and silverware in Hyderabad with a vintage defensive drive.

    Weekend Schedule-

    Friday 24th-

    • Free Practice 1- 14:55pm – 15:45pm (GMT)

    Saturday 25th-

    • Free Practice 2- 07:05am – 07:55am
    • Qualifying- 09:40am – 10:55am
    • Round 5- 14:03pm – 15:30pm

  • Frijns to sit out of Cape Town E-Prix

    After sustaining a hand fracture earlier this season, ABT CUPRA’s Robin Frijns has announced that he will also be sitting out this weekend’s trip to Cape Town.

    So Kelvin van der Linde continues in his spot, and what perfect timing as it’s Formula E’s first visit to South Africa for a ‘home’ Cape Town E-Prix

    Since the incident, which occurred during the first lap of the season-opener in Mexico, Frijns has been sharing updates of his recovery with fans online.

    Frijns had set himself the goal of racing at the upcoming round in South Africa. However, Kelvin van der Linde will continue as the reserve driver for the ABT CUPRA team.

    Frijns who has competed in 77 Formula E races will be hoping he’s ready to race at the next E-Prix which is Sao Paulo on the 25th March.

    We did the preparation in the simulator, which all went pretty smoothly. But after a few more checks on my hand, it seems that my bone has not fully healed just yet. It is a hard one to make, knowing the effort I put into this, but I will be back.

    Frijns on his injury.