Kiwis scoop silverware at Formula E New York E-Prix
Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans both had strong weekends at the ABB Formula E double-header E-Prix event in New York.
Cassidy in particular was strong, earning pole position for the weekend’s opening race before converting that to a maiden race win. Evans, meanwhile, earned a podium finish in the second race of the weekend overnight.
Cassidy’s race began with a robust battle with former champion Lucas di Grassi. Soon the pair were joined by Stoffel Vandoorne, but it appeared Cassidy had the measure of both racers.
Rain arrived with 10 minutes of the race left to go, making the New York circuit increasingly treacherous and ultimately triggering one of Formula E’s most dramatic and abrupt finishes.
Approaching turn six, Cassidy, di Grassi, and Vandoorne all fell foul of the same puddle of standing water in the braking zone. Each car aquaplaned, and piled into the outside wall one by one.
Cassidy’s entry hit thick foam, meaning a reasonably soft initial impact. But that was immediately trailed by huge hits directly into Cassidy by di Grassi and Vandoorne; each hitting at around 100km/h.
Thankfully all three drivers were okay. The race was red flagged following a delay. This flipped the order back to what it was one lap prior to the red flag, elevating Cassidy back to first place ahead of di Grassi and Cassidy’s Envision Racing teammate Robin Frijns.
Vandoorne, Edoardo Mortara, Sebastien Buemi, Pascal Wehrlein, Jake Dennis, Sam Bird, and Nyck de Vries completed the top 10, with Evans narrowly missing out in 11th.
“It feels really, really good – it’s not quite the way that we would have liked, but I’m definitely going to take it,” said Cassidy.
“I’ve had some weekends in this championship where I’m not very competitive, and it’s not really worked out. And today’s quite the opposite. So I’m pretty thankful.
“It’s hard to manage these races, especially when you’re leading, it’s never easy. With the guys behind, let’s say there’s a lot of tactics and it’s not easy to be out front.
“But the pace was strong enough to stay there and we were good on energy, we kind of managed through the run and that made the end of the race quite interesting.”
Cassidy looked set to repeat his earlier form in scoring pole position for the second race of the E-Prix, but was denied by significant penalties given to the team for changing his car’s battery pack and cooling system following the race one wreck. This saw him start at the back of the field.
This saw Evans instead fly the flag for New Zealand. He started the race from sixth, as Antonio Felix da Costa and Alexander Sims led the grid.
It was a gritty, determined drive from the former Toyota Racing Series champion. It was punctuated by a physical exchange with de Vries mid race, as the pair fought with Sims over the final step of the podium.
They made almost made contact at turn 10, in what Evans would later label “a stupid move”. De Vries ushered the Jaguar pilot to the dirty inside line, sending Evans into an enormous, spectacular slide. He caught the car without impacting the wall or spinning out completely.
This dropped Evans down to fifth, although that would become third by the flag following a stellar run to the chequered flag from Evans; strong enough that he would get by both de Vries and Sims.
Da Costa ended up taking the win, nine tenths ahead of Vandoorne. Evans and Sims were third and fourth, with Bird, Frijns, de Vries, Dennis, Andre Lotterer, and Mortara completing the top 10. Cassidy ended up finishing 16th; his race further compounded by a pit-lane penalty.
“I think we could have won today – I never say that lightly, we had a good car today,” Evans told Autosport. “I hit the pothole on the back-straight on the braking zone, which I was really lucky to get away with, unlucky to hit it but to get away with it was very lucky.
“I shat myself, had huge flat spots, tried to gather it up and lost a lot of time and it took at least a few laps for everything to settle down again. Then it came back at the end again and obviously got Alexander. Honestly, I think today we could have won.”
Evans still holds third in the series standings, just five points adrift of Mortara in second and a further 11 points behind title leader Vandoorne. The series now prepares for its penultimate round in London, which takes place on July 30-31.
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