Double factors for DS Penske in Portland

The primary of the 2 races in Portland (USA) noticed DS Vehicles file its 51st podium due to Jean-Eric Vergne’s third-place end with Stoffel Vandoorne additionally scoring factors in ninth.

On the everlasting Portland circuit, the primary free apply classes came about late Friday afternoon with the observe comparatively soiled, regardless of having been partially utilized by dragsters a couple of days earlier.

After half-hour of free apply, the highest 20 drivers (out of twenty-two) remained inside a second of one another.

In Saturday’s second apply, the purple flags have been proven after solely 10 minutes when one of many Nissans ran off the observe – this whereas the 2 Penske DS have been within the high 10.

Many automobiles bounced off the kerbs and went via the grass, the grip being fairly low.

For this two-race weekend, the cool morning regularly gave option to milder climate, and by the point of qualifying, the mercury was studying 20 levels.

Within the first group, simply as he was setting his greatest lap, Vergne was hindered within the final nook by a slowing automobile and needed to go vast on the grass – a manoeuvre that value him a spot within the quarter-finals and introduced again some unhealthy reminiscences.

“Final yr, to keep away from a crash, I might already needed to undergo the grass, which precipitated my pontoons to plug up and my engine to overheat,” stated the Frenchman. “I hope that this yr we can’t be too uncovered to this sort of manoeuvre, even when it has simply occurred once more.”

Professor Vergne’s lesson

Ranging from fifteenth and seventeenth positions, Vergne and Vandoorne knew they must keep within the pack for some time, then get out on the proper second to attempt to rating factors. Battery administration is extraordinarily troublesome in Formulation E, significantly so on the Portland circuit, the place the 12 bends over a 3.170 km course makes it one of the crucial complicated tracks round.

Right here, there isn’t any query of main the race for too lengthy, lest you miss the end or have to surrender locations. It is a race of ready, forcing the groups’ strategists to repeatedly research the battery ranges. A area through which the DS Penske drivers and their race engineers excel, and which may result in a beneficial final result.

A robust chief with 10 laps to go, Vergne may have tried to take his DS E-TENSE FE23 all the best way. However he most well-liked to take it straightforward and return a couple of locations. On the screens, Formulation E’s “digital engineer” confirmed that the French champion was proper, indicating that solely the final seven laps required no particular power administration. In different phrases, drivers can absolutely exploit the capabilities of their single-seaters.

However rising the tempo additionally will increase the extent of danger… that is how Nick Cassidy, then chief, went off into the grass on the wheel of his Jaguar. His team-mate Mitch Evans took over and crossed the end line victorious, however was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for contact with Jake Hughes (McLaren).

Victory went to Antonio Felix Da Costa’s Porsche, forward of Robin Frijns’ Jaguar-powered Envision.

Vergne, who began fifteenth, drove an exemplary race and completed on the rostrum for the thirty sixth time in his Formulation E profession. It was additionally the French producer’s 51st podium end within the self-discipline.

Stoffel Vandoorne completed ninth, as soon as once more enabling DS Penske to place each its automobiles within the factors. The second spherical at Portland, which can also be the 14th race of the season, takes place this night at midnight BST (14:00 native time).