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

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


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team	13	18	1'08.787		166.950
2	N. Nato Andretti Formula E	17	18	+0.126 1'08.913	0.126	166.644
3	N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing	37	19	+0.229 1'09.016	0.103	166.396
4	J. Dennis Andretti Formula E	1	18	+0.271 1'09.058	0.042	166.294
5	C. Collet Nissan e.Dams	22	19	+0.321 1'09.108	0.050	166.174
6	D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team	33	17	+0.322 1'09.109	0.001	166.172
7	S. Buemi Envision Racing	16	18	+0.336 1'09.123	0.014	166.138
8	R. Frijns Envision Racing	4	18	+0.342 1'09.129	0.006	166.124
9	P. Wehrlein Porsche Team	94	18	+0.391 1'09.178	0.049	166.006
10	S. Bird McLaren	8	17	+0.409 1'09.196	0.018	165.963
11	N. Müller Team Abt	51	18	+0.422 1'09.209	0.013	165.932
12	M. Evans Jaguar Racing	9	19	+0.428 1'09.215	0.006	165.917
13	S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team	3	18	+0.491 1'09.278	0.063	165.766
14	E. Mortara Mahindra Racing	48	18	+0.527 1'09.314	0.036	165.680
15	L. di Grassi Team Abt	11	19	+0.557 1'09.344	0.030	165.609
16	J. Hughes McLaren	5	17	+0.566 1'09.353	0.009	165.587
17	N. de Vries Mahindra Racing	21	17	+0.598 1'09.385	0.032	165.511
18	M. Gunther Maserati Racing	7	20	+0.677 1'09.464	0.079	165.323
19	S. Vandoorne DS Penske	2	18	+0.910 1'09.697	0.233	164.770
20	J. Daruvala Maserati Racing	18	19	+0.953 1'09.740	0.043	164.668
21	J. Vergne DS Penske	25	18	+1.117 1'09.904	0.164	164.282
22	S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams	23	5	+10.968 1'19.755	9.851	143.990
View full results

FP1


Cla	Driver	#	Laps	Time	Interval	km/h
1	N. Nato Andretti Formula E	17	11	1'09.079		166.244
2	M. Evans Jaguar Racing	9	18	+0.174 1'09.253	0.174	165.826
3	N. Cassidy Jaguar Racing	37	18	+0.207 1'09.286	0.033	165.747
4	A. Felix da Costa Porsche Team	13	19	+0.238 1'09.317	0.031	165.673
5	N. de Vries Mahindra Racing	21	19	+0.340 1'09.419	0.102	165.430
6	L. di Grassi Team Abt	11	19	+0.378 1'09.457	0.038	165.339
7	P. Wehrlein Porsche Team	94	17	+0.446 1'09.525	0.068	165.177
8	S. Sette Camara ERT Formula E Team	3	18	+0.533 1'09.612	0.087	164.971
9	M. Gunther Maserati Racing	7	19	+0.571 1'09.650	0.038	164.881
10	E. Mortara Mahindra Racing	48	19	+0.580 1'09.659	0.009	164.860
11	J. Daruvala Maserati Racing	18	19	+0.724 1'09.803	0.144	164.520
12	J. Dennis Andretti Formula E	1	18	+0.737 1'09.816	0.013	164.489
13	S. Bird McLaren	8	20	+0.750 1'09.829	0.013	164.458
14	N. Müller Team Abt	51	19	+0.761 1'09.840	0.011	164.432
15	J. Vergne DS Penske	25	18	+0.769 1'09.848	0.008	164.414
16	S. Vandoorne DS Penske	2	17	+0.824 1'09.903	0.055	164.284
17	J. Hughes McLaren	5	20	+0.837 1'09.916	0.013	164.254
18	D. Ticktum ERT Formula E Team	33	19	+0.837 1'09.916	0.000	164.254
19	C. Collet Nissan e.Dams	22	19	+0.936 1'10.015	0.099	164.021
20	R. Frijns Envision Racing	4	20	+0.992 1'10.071	0.056	163.890
21	S. Fenestraz Nissan e.Dams	23	18	+1.243 1'10.322	0.251	163.305
22	S. Buemi Envision Racing	16	16	+3.480 1'12.559	2.237	158.271
View full results