Antonio da Costa from Portugal won the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix earlier today.
The Mother City played host for Season 9 of the Formula E World Championship.
Approximately 25 000 fans watched in anticipation as Da Costa grabbed his 8th victory in the ABB Formula E.
He drove a storming race from 11th on the grid and ultimately scored a first win for TAG Heuer Porsche.
Da Costa had climbed through the top 10 and into the top three by Lap 20.
He pulled off the overtake of the season so far to pass Jean-Eric Vergne for the lead in the race’s final stages.
The Porsche driver says it was a tough race.
“It hasn’t been an easy first couple of months of the year. I am racing amazing drivers and I can trust them to pull out these overtakes both of them (drivers) were tough but fair. It was a fun race with a lot of overtakes. They were brave overtakes, but I knew I had the right guys next to me to cooperate. But it feels good,” says Da Costa.
DS Penske’s Vergne finished second with Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy in third place.
During the qualifying session this morning Mahindra Racing and customer team ABT CUPRA withdrew their cars from the race due to rear suspension safety concerns.
This meant that South African racer Kelvin van der Linde (ABT CUPRA) could not participate in the race.
Mahindra Racing said in a press statement: “A thorough investigation on the suspension elements of the Mahindra M9Electro race cars will take place on the team’s return to the UK (United Kingdom). The safety of the drivers and extended teams is of utmost importance at this point in time.”
The 26-year-old Van der Linde says he is “devastated” that he could not compete.
“I was feeling so good in the free practices. I really thought we could go for a good result today,” he says.
The team will take a short break before heading to Sao Paulo, Brazil next month, for round six of the Championship.
