How Cassidy emerged triumphant from "mayhem" in Portland FE slow-burner

There was a familiar face on top of the podium on Formula E’s first visit to Portland, after Nick Cassidy became the first three-time winner of the season. The event left opinion divided regarding the on-track action, but was otherwise an undoubted hit.

The fast, flowing Oregon venue, better known for hosting IndyCar and NASCAR, lived up to its promise of providing a unique spectacle, as the lack of braking zones meant few chances to recoup energy. It was always clear that this would be an energy-saving race in the Berlin mould, but this example was even more extreme, with drivers dawdling around as much as 13 seconds per lap slower than their cars were really capable of early in the race.

While Formula E was able to boast of a race featuring 403 overtakes, it’s certainly debatable as to whether this type of contest is ultimately a good thing for the series. After about 22 laps of pussyfooting, something resembling a motor race finally broke out for the final third or so of the distance, with the Envision Racing Jaguar of Cassidy beating Jake Dennis and Antonio Felix da Costa in what became a three-way battle at the head of the field.

Cassidy had qualified 10th, but it soon became clear that this was a race that could potentially be won from anywhere on the grid, such was the excruciatingly slow pace in the early stages. On the opening lap alone, Cassidy vaulted into the top five and, by the fourth lap of an eventual 32, he was leading before taking his first attack-mode activation.

What had been scheduled as a 28-lap race was extended by four due to two quick-fire safety car periods. The first was for Roberto Merhi’s Mahindra coming to a halt, the second for a scary 27g crash involving the Mahindra-powered Abt car of Nico Muller on the back straight. Cassidy was credited with leading half of the 32 laps, although that was partly because he just happened to be at the head of the pack when the music stopped following Muller’s crash.

Crucially, Cassidy had managed to clear his second attack-mode activation prior to that, with the power boost proving impossible to utilise because of the additional demands it placed on energy consumption. Porsche man da Costa had done likewise, but Andretti Porsche racer Dennis was one of a number of drivers who had to serve his second activation (situated on the outside of the Turn 7 hairpin before the back straight) after the caution ended.

It was actually da Costa who ‘went’ first of all, dramatically upping the pace from a 1m18s – 10 seconds slower than the pole time – to a 1m12s on lap 22. The Portuguese explained that he had calculated that he had enough energy left at this stage to make it to the finish as he surged into the lead. But he couldn’t shake off Cassidy, and by lap 26 it was the lime green machine that was back ahead.

Da Costa attempted to up the pace to break the opposition, but Cassidy managed his pace better

Photo by: Sam Bloxham / Motorsport Images

Da Costa had one more crack at the victory, passing Cassidy with three laps to go, but again his spell out front proved brief as the Envision driver got him back next time by. After that, da Costa had to focus his attention on protecting second place from a resurgent Dennis, who slumped as low as sixth after entering attack mode for a second time but had a small energy advantage for the closing stages.

After a couple of laps of entertaining side-by-side battling, Dennis was finally able to wrest second away from da Costa on the final lap, and even looked to be in a position to threaten Cassidy in the final sector. But in the end he fell short by 0.294 seconds, registering his third consecutive runner-up finish and his fifth straight podium.

Earlier in the day, Dennis had been the star of qualifying, setting the fastest-ever lap in a Formula E car by average speed (103.5mph) in his semi-final before besting Nissan driver Sacha Fenestraz to grab pole position in the final. The three bonus points put Dennis into the championship lead by a single point from Pascal Wehrlein, but leading the opening few laps inevitably had a deleterious impact on his energy consumption.

“It was a negative to start on pole,” reflected Dennis. “We led the first four laps, and I was already 1% down [on energy] on Antonio. I was like, ‘We’ve got a long day ahead.’ We pulled it back in the middle of the race, we did some risky towing, we were back in the pack and it was just mental back there.

"We need to refine everything: when to lead, when not to lead. That’s something Envision has a good grasp on, better than us" Jake Dennis

“We got a bit unlucky with the second safety car with the attack [mode]; we had a lot of work to do and I got Antonio at the end. We need to refine everything: when to lead, when not to lead. That’s something Envision has a good grasp on, better than us. We had the car to win, but we need to find some things.”

Cassidy, meanwhile, spoke of struggling with his car’s balance against a “next-level” Dennis, whom he now trails by a single point in the standings with four races to go – two each in Rome and London. The New Zealander came into Portland playing down his chances, expecting the final two tracks on the schedule to be better suited to his Jaguar-powered car, but it’s clear that he’s mastered the art of these energy-saving races, having previously come out on top in somewhat similar (albeit not as extreme) contests in Berlin and Monaco.

Da Costa was pleased to be back on the podium for the first time since his February win in Cape Town, but admitted that he misjudged how soon he could push.

“I’m a bit disappointed because I executed the race how we planned, and ultimately it wasn’t the right strategy,” he said. “It’s something we have to go back and review. These two guys [Cassidy and Dennis] planned it better than us and I struggled a bit with energy at the end.”

Dennis fought back from suffering an energy deficit by leading early on

Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images

It was a chastening weekend for da Costa’s team-mate Wehrlein, who was an anonymous ninth on the road (promoted to eighth by a post-race penalty for Sam Bird). The German now sits 16 points behind Dennis heading into the final two double-headers, having “struggled the whole weekend in terms of pace”. He added: “Everything is still open. We didn’t have a great weekend, but there are still four races to go, so we’ll give it our best.”

The top five was completed by two more Jaguar-powered cars. Completing an impressive comeback from 20th on the grid to fourth was works driver Mitch Evans, who began his 29th birthday in inauspicious style when a problem in second practice prompted Jaguar to change his battery and powertrain. As a result, he didn’t set a lap in qualifying, but surged through the field, and even ran as high as second at one stage before slipping back.

Behind Evans, Sebastien Buemi ensured both Envision cars finished in the top five. That was a strong achievement considering he started 16th, but this was yet another race in which the Swiss stalwart was no match whatsoever for in-form team-mate Cassidy.

Outside of Jaguar and Porsche, there was little to celebrate for the remaining powertrain manufacturers in Portland. Nissan in particular endured a disappointing race after both Fenestraz and Norman Nato started in the top three, not helped by Fenestraz damaging his front wing by making contact with his team-mate early on. When Fenestraz came in for a replacement nose (further braking issues condemned him to 15th at the finish), it left Nato alone in the lead battle, but the Frenchman trailed home behind Wehrlein in ninth.

But without a doubt the manufacturer that endured the worst weekend was DS, whose works Penske-operated squad suffered the embarrassment of having both of its cars relegated to the pitlane for the start. That was after the team was found to be using illegal RFID scanning equipment in the pitlane during practice, but the cheating allegations flew when a revised stewards’ bulletin suggested that the team was able to “collect live data from all cars”.

Stoffel Vandoorne was adamant that DS Penske was not “stealing data from other teams” by using the scanner.

“We were just trying to check what set of tyres others were using, which you can do with a normal camera. We found a clever way, or an easy way, and we paid a big price for that,” added the Belgian, who finished 12th behind team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne.

Reigning champion Vandoorne, now on the cusp of being mathematically eliminated from title contention, made it clear that he was no big fan of the style of racing seen at Portland.

DS Penske were in the dock and had to start both cars from the pits for using a scanner to check what tyre sets its opposition were using

Photo by: DPPI

“It’s hard to call it racing at some points when you are four wide on every big straight,” he said.

But perhaps unsurprisingly, those who did well in Portland had a more positive view. Cassidy commented: “I don’t know how people found the race, but for me it was pretty exciting. It was hard, you had to be on it in every straight, every braking zone.”

Dennis gave a slightly more measured view, saying: “It’s great to watch, it’s exciting racing, but it’s extremely challenging. At the front it’s better, but outside the top five it’s mayhem.”

"It’s nice that not all the tracks are like this, but one or two like this is OK" Nick Cassidy

While the racing itself split opinion, the consensus was that Formula E’s first visit to Portland, the 30th different city it has visited in its almost decade-long history and the fourth in the United States (after New York, Miami and Long Beach), was a success. The series predicted a sell-out crowd of 14,000 on Saturday and, judging from the long line of fans queueing up to enter the venue prior to morning practice, it was easy to believe that figure.

Qualifying was a great spectacle, with the long straights and fast corners providing a very different challenge to the street tracks that make up the bulk of the schedule. A new all-time top speed record was set, with Evans setting a new benchmark of 171.8mph in practice. And if it hadn’t been for the two safety cars, the second of which went on for some time, the record for the shortest race would have almost certainly been surpassed.

Cassidy summed it up well when he said: “As an event, everything seemed like it added something. There was a real positive energy. I quite liked it, it was a good turnout, the track in qualifying was quite exciting to drive. It’s quick and on the limit and a big challenge. I think it’s nice that not all the tracks are like this, but one or two like this is OK.”

Cars fanning out on the straight and running at a significantly slower pace than in qualifying prompted mixed views

Photo by: Andreas Beil