Jordan's Track Talk

Tag: South Africa

  • 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    Disappointment came for all four Mahindra-powered cars as the quartet were withdrawn due to rear suspension safety concern.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.

  • Cape Town added to Season 9 Calendar

    The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is set to race in Cape Town, South Africa for the first time on 25th February 2023, following approval at the FIA World Motor Sport Council meeting.

    The original calendar draft unveiled after the WMSC meeting in June featured three calendar slots to be confirmed, with the already agreed Cape Town E-Prix left off the provisional schedule.

    In further updates to the Season 9 calendar, Berlin will now host a double-header race weekend on 22 and 23rd April while the two races previously announced for Seoul have been removed from the calendar. Rounds 10 and 13 are still to be finalised and will be announced at a later date.

    RoundLocationDate
    Pre-Season TestingValencia, SpainDec 13 – 16
    Round 1Mexico City, MexicoJan 14
    Round 2 & 3Diriyah, Saudi ArabiaJan 27 – 28
    Round 4Hyderabad, IndiaFeb 11
    Round 5Cape Town, South AfricaFeb 25
    Round 6Sao Paulo, BrazilMar 25
    Round 7 & 8 Berlin, GermanyApr 22 – 23
    Round 9MonacoMay 6
    Round 10TBDMay 20
    Round 11 & 12Jakarta, IndonesiaJun 3 – 4
    Round 13TBDJun 24
    Round 14 & 15Rome, ItalyJul 15 – 16
    Round 16 & 17London, UKJul 29 – 30
    Updated Calendar

    We are excited to announce Cape Town as a new destination for our series in Season 9. Our local partners are working incredibly hard to bring an ABB FIA Formula E World Championship race to the city and we cannot wait to see the futuristic Gen3 race cars competing against the iconic natural backdrop of Table Mountain. Renovation work at the Olympic Stadium in Seoul, the venue for our first races in South Korea earlier this year, means we cannot return to the same location next season as originally planned and so we are exploring other options in South Korea to replace this venue. We are also in active discussions with more world cities and venues to host an event on the other date without a confirmed location.

    Alberto Longo, Co-Founder and Chief Championship Officer, Formula E.

  • South African GP to return?

    With the F1 calendar forever changing, and with a record-breaking 23 races this season is it time to bring some old races back? Especially now with Miami, Zandvoort, Jeddah and Las Vegas signing deals in recent years taking up spots on the calendar.

    It definitely makes me think are there some places missing? One which has been spoken about recently, is the South African Grand Prix, which F1 hasn’t hosted a race there since 1993, with 13 drivers on the 2022 grid not being alive the last time it featured on the calendar…

    Based near Johannesburg, the Kyalami Circuit has previously held 21 out of 23 GP’s in Africa from 1967 to 1993. But we may have to wait a few more years till its return.

    A lot of work is needed to upgrade the circuit to meet the FIA Grade 1 status required to host an F1 race, the circuit was redesigned in 2014 but still requires improvements, including extra run off areas and TecPro barriers.

    Max Verstappen has backed Lewis Hamilton’s calls for F1 to return to South Africa, the reigning world champion said “I’d like to race in Africa, so Kyalami would be a cool addition.”

    On top of America, on top of China, I think there is a potential also to be in Africa soon. There is a lot of interest there. For sure that’s another area that so far is missing in the geography of our calendar.

    F1 CEO Stefano Domenicali stated his desire to add a GP, talking to Sky Sports F1.

    The one I really want to see is South Africa. That’s the one I want to hear announced next. We’re pretty much on every other continent, so why not? Ultimately, my ancestors are from there so that’s why it is important for me personally. I think it’s important for the sport to go there. If they’re in every other continent, why not?

    Lewis Hamilton on a race in Africa.

    My Opinion-

    I’d very much like to see the South African GP back on the calendar, as much as these new tracks are great, there are other tracks around and in different countries which are waiting to have their turn.

    Hopefully we get to hear something soon on whether this will happen!

  • Cape Town track revealed

    The proposed race track for Cape Towns inaugural Formula E World Championship E-Prix has been revealed by Formula E and e-Movement Ltd.

    Subject to approval by the FIA World Motor Sport Council, the all-electric race cars will wind their way through the Green Point and Waterfront district, showcasing some of Cape Town’s most famous locations.

    The track is to be predicted one of the fastest in the series and Cape Town is joining the likes of Monaco, Mexico City, Berlin, London and NY as city centres hosting an Formula E World Championship race.

    Cape Town is set to become the first sub Saharan African city to host a round of the electric championship next year during the 9th Season- with the full calendar and dates being released later in the year.

    The Cape Town E-Prix will start at the Green Point precinct’s Vlei Road, where the field of world-class drivers will race with Signal Hill as a backdrop. Then it’s a left turn into Helen Suzman Boulevard, and another left into Granger Bay Boulevard, presenting the racers with two sharp chicanes. The drivers will then head along the ocean front on Mouille Point’s Beach Road, before taking a sharp left-hander into Fritz Sonnenberg Road and a final right to reach the finish line.

    Alberto Longo, Co-founder and Chief Championship Officer, Formula E, said: “We’ve had a very positive response within our ecosystem of teams, drivers and sponsors about coming to Cape Town, so we are delighted that the City is joining our Season 9 calendar. When I first met Iain Banner [Chairman of race promoter e-Movement (Pty) Ltd] in 2019, he said that he was confident that Cape Town had the potential to be one of the top cities on our global calendar. This is my first visit to South Africa and having now seen the beauty of the Mother City, I feel confident that he is right.”

    Iain Banner, Chairman, race promoter e-Movement (Pty) Ltd, said: “The public has been crying out for an open-wheel, street-circuit race and we are now answering those cries. With Table Mountain as the backdrop and Robben Island in the foreground, I have no doubt the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship will garner substantial support in Cape Town and throughout South Africa.”