Double points for DS Penske in Portland

The first of the two races in Portland (USA) saw DS Automobiles record its 51st podium thanks to Jean-Eric Vergne's third-place finish with Stoffel Vandoorne also scoring points in ninth.

On the permanent Portland circuit, the first free practice sessions took place late Friday afternoon with the track relatively dirty, despite having been partially used by dragsters a few days earlier.

After 30 minutes of free practice, the top 20 drivers (out of 22) remained within a second of each other.

In Saturday's second practice, the red flags were shown after only 10 minutes when one of the Nissans ran off the track - this while the two Penske DS were in the top 10.

Many cars bounced off the kerbs and went through the grass, the grip being quite low.

For this two-race weekend, the cool morning gradually gave way to milder weather, and by the time of qualifying, the mercury was reading 20 degrees.

In the first group, just as he was setting his best lap, Vergne was hindered in the last corner by a slowing car and had to go wide on the grass - a manoeuvre that cost him a place in the quarter-finals and brought back some bad memories.

Jean-Eric Vergne, DS Penske, DS E-Tense FE23

Photo by: DPPI

"Last year, to avoid a crash, I'd already had to go through the grass, which caused my pontoons to plug up and my engine to overheat," said the Frenchman. "I hope that this year we won't be too exposed to this kind of manoeuvre, even if it has just happened again."

Professor Vergne's lesson

Starting from 15th and 17th positions, Vergne and Vandoorne knew they would have to stay in the pack for a while, then get out at the right moment to try and score points. Battery management is extremely difficult in Formula E, particularly so on the Portland circuit, where the 12 bends over a 3.170 km course makes it one of the most complex tracks around.

Here, there's no question of leading the race for too long, lest you miss the finish or have to give up places. It's a race of waiting, forcing the teams' strategists to continuously study the battery levels. A field in which the DS Penske drivers and their race engineers excel, and which can lead to a favourable outcome.

A strong leader with 10 laps to go, Vergne could have tried to take his DS E-TENSE FE23 all the way. But he preferred to take it easy and go back a few places. On the screens, Formula E's "virtual engineer" confirmed that the French champion was right, indicating that only the last seven laps required no special energy management. In other words, drivers can fully exploit the capabilities of their single-seaters.

But increasing the pace also increases the level of risk... that's how Nick Cassidy, then leader, went off into the grass at the wheel of his Jaguar. His team-mate Mitch Evans took over and crossed the finish line victorious, but was subsequently handed a five-second penalty for contact with Jake Hughes (McLaren).

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

Vergne, who started 15th, drove an exemplary race and finished on the podium for the 36th time in his Formula E career. It was also the French manufacturer's 51st podium finish in the discipline.

Stoffel Vandoorne finished 9th, once again enabling DS Penske to put both its cars in the points. The second round at Portland, which is also the 14th race of the season, takes place this evening at midnight BST (14:00 local time).