Cape Town E-Prix – Sasha Fenestraz put in a blinding lap take his first Formula E pole for this afternoon’s inaugural Cape Town race.
Group A
Andretti’s Andre Lotterer was the first to take to the track as the qualifying session started and he opened with a 1:18.754. A few minutes in Jake Hughes tapped the wall on his first flyer and went into the runoff, he picked up some advertising hoarding on his right tyres but felt the car would be okay to continue.
Qualifying Results – 2023 Cape Town E-Prix
All cars returned to the pits at the halfway point of the session and at that point it was a Porsche 1-2 with Antonio Felix da Costa on top with a 1:09.441, with Jean-Eric Vergne and Sacha Fenestraz in the remaining duel places. There looked to be an issue for ABT as Nico Muller hadn’t made it out of the garage at all during the session
Lotterer cut it close at the end, only leaving the pits for his final run with about ninety seconds to go but traffic wasn’t an issue so he was able to get around in time to set a time, while Hughes cut it very close and crossed the line with a second to go but he wasn’t able to put in one of the blistering laps we’ve gotten used to seeing from him and ended half a second slower than the fastest.
Cassidy was holding the provisional top spot but a late flyer from Fenestraz put the Nissan into P1 with a 1:08.994, the only one in the 1:08s. Pascal Wehrlein and Vergne will join them in the duels.
Group B
Before the lights went green there was an update about Mueller’s absence which seemed to be a power train problem so neither his teammate, South African racer Kelvin van der Linde, or the Mahindras, who supply ABT, would be able to take part.
Edoardo Mortara lead his teammate out at the start, warming up with a 1:17.848, and then returning to the pits before setting a competitive time. At the halfway point the two Jaguars were on top with a 1:09.025 from Mitch Evans, while Jake Dennis and Maximilian Guenther filled the other top four spots.
The eight competing drivers returned to the pits to prepare for their final runs and at that stage the Jaguars had been split with Sebastien Buemi going just 0.015 seconds slower than Evans while Guenther had improved to move into P3 ahead of Sam Bird.
While Rene Rast went to the top with a 1:08.844 the Red Flag came out before anyone else could complete their laps. Mortara had a very similar incident to the one Buemi had in FP1, his teammate narrowly missed hitting him and then, without Yellow Flags being flown, Bird also had the same incident and ended up smashing into the stranded Maserati.
That meant that Rast, Evans, Buemi and Guenther would progress. However, after collisions in Hyderabad Rene Rast will take a three place grid drop, and Bird will have to serve a five place penalty.
There was news then that due to safety concerns with their rear suspension, Mahindra would be withdrawing all their cars from the race, so van der Linde’s awful luck in the series continues as he will have to watch his home race from the sidelines.
Quarter-finals – Wehrlein vs Cassidy, Vergne vs Fenestraz, Buemi vs Evans, Guenther vs Rast
QF1 – It was advantage Cassidy in the opening sector, by almost two tenths, and the green machine continued to pull the gap to prevent Porsche from progressing.
QF2 – Not much between the two at the very start but once Fenestraz opened a gap he held onto it to defeat Vergne
QF3 – There was absolutely nothing between Evans and Buemi over the first two sectors but the Envision racer made a mistake and touched the wall in the final sector and while he completed the lap was over three seconds slower.
QF4 – While Rast was quicker at the very start, Guenther eclipsed him over the course of the opening sector and while the McLaren racer did close at the end the gap was too big to close.
Semi-finals – Fenestraz vs Cassidy, Guenther vs Evans
SF1 – The Nissan was slightly quicker at the start and extended that lead in the first sector, there wasn’t much between them over the following sector and while Cassidy was the faster in the final few corners, it wasn’t enough to overcome Fenestraz’ advantage.
SF2 – It was looking good for Jaguar initially with Evans faster at the start but a brush with the wall lost him time and he couldn’t hold on, so Guenther will progress to the final.
Final – Fenestraz vs Guenther
The Maserati was slightly quicker in the first corner but while Guenther put in a very fast lap, not as quick as his semi-final time which had been the benchmark, but Fenestraz was on another level and wrangled his Nissan around in a blistering 1:07.848.
Cassidy will start P3 ahead of Evans while Vergne and Wehrlein will share row three. Due to Rast’s penalty dropping him back, Buemi will start P7 with Ticktum alongside while Norman Nato should line up P9 ahead of Rast as Bird, who qualified P10 also has a penalty.
