Norman Nato put Andretti atop of the times on home soil in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Portland E-Prix. The Frenchman set a best time of 1m09.079s, with a session-best first sector, beating both factory Jaguars to the top spot. …
Norman Nato put Andretti atop of the times on home soil in the opening practice session for this weekend’s Portland E-Prix.
The Frenchman set a best time of 1m09.079s, with a session-best first sector, beating both factory Jaguars to the top spot. It wasn’t all good news for Nato, though, after he was given a reprimand for speeding under full course yellow. As it was his third driving infringement reprimand of the season, it resulted in a 10-place grid penalty being levied for Saturday’s race.
Nyck de Vries was a fine fifth for Mahindra Racing, 0.340s off the top spot, ahead of Abt Cupra’s Lucas di Grassi and Pascal Wehrlein in the second works Porsche. Sergio Sette Camara (ERT), Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) and Edoardo Mortara completed the top 10, which was covered by just over 0.5s. Mortara and de Vries, however, found themselves under investigation for a “technical infraction” at the end of the session.
Jehan Daruvala was 0.144s off that top 10, finishing the session 11th in the second Maserati, ahead of reigning champion Jake Dennis (Andretti) Sam Bird (NEOM McLaren), Nico Mueller (Abt Cupra) and the DS Penske pairing of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Jake Hughes was next up for McLaren, with ERT’s Dan Ticktum 18th, and Caio Collet – filling in for the unwell Oliver Rowland – 19th for Nissan, two places ahead of his teammate Sacha Fenestraz. The pair were separated by Robin Frijns, with his Envision Racing stablemate Sebastien Buemi completing the field.
Nissan Formula E driver Oliver Rowland will miss this weekend’s Portland E-Prix doubleheader due to illness, with the team’s reserve and simulator driver Caio Collet filling in instead. The team released a statement ahead of opening practice for the …
Nissan Formula E driver Oliver Rowland will miss this weekend’s Portland E-Prix doubleheader due to illness, with the team’s reserve and simulator driver Caio Collet filling in instead.
The team released a statement ahead of opening practice for the weekend confirming the news, adding that “the whole team wishes oli a quick recovery and to see him back in action in London next month.”
The news is a huge blow for Rowland’s title chances, with the British driver (pictured above) currently just 36 points off leader Nick Cassidy with four races remaining. He’s scored six podiums so far this season, including four in a row across the Diriyah, Tokyo, and Misano weekends, ending with a win in Italy after on-the-road victor Antonio Felix da Costa was disqualified. It was very nearly two wins — which would have made him the only driver to sweep a doubleheader weekend this season — but an energy miscalculation led to him retiring from the lead in the second Misano race.
Rowland’s stand-in, 22-year-old Brazilian Collet, has been with Nissan since the start of this season, and drove for the team at the Rookie Test immediately after the Berlin E-Prix in May.
Collet has been dovetailing his role as the team’s simulator and reserve driver with a campaign in Indy NXT. He is currently third in the Indy NXT standings with four podiums from eight starts so far, including a pair of second places in the most recent round at Laguna Seca.
Formula E’s pair of races in Portland International Raceway this weekend marks the first time since the Monaco round on April 27 that the series has run on a familiar circuit. Berlin featured a new track layout, while the most recent event in …
Formula E’s pair of races in Portland International Raceway this weekend marks the first time since the Monaco round on April 27 that the series has run on a familiar circuit.
Berlin featured a new track layout, while the most recent event in Shanghai was a new venue altogether. But in returning to the U.S., Formula E will be back on familiar ground, and Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Guenther says that will mean a different approach will be needed going into this weekend.
“It’s definitely a slightly different approach,” said the German, who finished sixth in the first Portland race (pictured above) last season. “Everybody has got more references and experience from the previous year — I actually watched the gaps already last in qualifying over the whole weekend, and it was extremely competitive. So, what you can expect this year is just another step up.”
This is the second season of the GEN3 regulations, and the resulting natural convergence has made the field the closest it’s been. Guenther says that means capitalizing on the knowledge of the previous Portland visit will be crucial.
“We’ve seen such tight margins this year, especially in qualifying, that we very much know that we need to really work and go deep into all these fine details that make the difference at the end of the day,” he said. “Every little hundredth that you can gain here or there can give you a few positions on the grid. So that’s the mindset we have going into the weekend.”
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Formula E will be expanding its number of doubleheaders to six next season — an announcement that drew some criticism from fans who would prefer to see the series visit more locations. Guenther and his Maserati teammate Jehan Daruvala see merit to both sides of the debate.
“I think both have pros and cons,” Guenther said. “For sure, I like to go to different places to only have one chance and deliver the job on each track. On the human side, I guess as well, it has got both pros and cons, because you could say the doubleheaders, they’re extremely intense, especially on a second race day — we all don’t have a lot of sleep, we are very, very tired on the second day. So, it really pushes you to the limit, every individual of the team.
“But, on the other hand, if you go to 17 different destinations, this means a lot as well on the traveling side. So, I think it’s about finding a good balance. The locations we have, they’re absolutely amazing. The calendar for next year is looking great.”
“We’re not doing doubleheaders every weekend,” Daruvala noted. “There’s some weekends which are doubleheaders and some not, and I feel like a balance is quite good. So yeah, I would like to see what that brings us.”
The appeal against Antonio Felix da Costa’s disqualification from the first race of the Misano E-Prix has been dismissed. The TAG Heuer Porsche driver won on the road in Italy, but was later stripped of the victory after it was found that the …
The appeal against Antonio Felix da Costa’s disqualification from the first race of the Misano E-Prix has been dismissed.
The TAG Heuer Porsche driver won on the road in Italy, but was later stripped of the victory after it was found that the throttle damper spring fitted to his Porsche 99X Electric did not conform with regulations.
The team said that it had run the part since last season – when it claimed it had been a listed component – and that it had been removed from this years’ rulebook without notification, but had not been met with objection at any FIA technical inspection up to that point.
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However, at the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on Tuesday, the FIA explained that the option of three springs allowed for the current season – Season 10 – were also the only ones allowed for last season as well, and that the part in question “was never a usable spring for the Gen3 cars newly homologated at the end of 2022, and the fact that the Appellant had, as it claims, used this spring throughout Formula E Season 9 as well as part of Season 10, was not in line with the applicable regulations.”
Additionally, the FIA said that a homologation session in which Porsche claims the part was approved, only concerned the ‘manufacturer’s Perimeter’, which the spring was not a part of.
“After having thoroughly studied the homologation form of 12 December 2022, the Court notes that the disputed spring is not only not part of the Manufacturer’s Perimeter that is the subject of the homologation check carried out on 12 December 2022, but that it is not even mentioned in the homologation documents issued as part of this check,” the decision from the FIA ICA read.
“The Court therefore concludes that the disputed spring, or any other spring for that matter, was not homologated on 12 December 2022. The Appellant cannot therefore rely on this to argue that the disputed spring complies with the applicable regulations.
“The Court also notes that the Appellant does not provide any evidence that would demonstrate that the disputed spring was subject to a special control after 12 December 2022 and had been in some way approved a posteriori by the FIA’s technical staff. Assuming that this argument could have been relevant, it must therefore be rejected.”
The decision to reject Porsche’s appeal means that da Costa remains seventh in the points. da Costa’s teammate Pascal Wehrlein went on to win the second Misano race the following day, with da Costa taking victory in two of the last three races – the second Berlin race and the second Shanghai race. Overturning the disqualification would have made da Costa the only three-time winner this season, but would have only moved him up one spot in the standings.
Lola’s return to motorsport grew a step closer this week with the first shakedown of a Formula E car powered by the drivetrain it has co-developed with Yamaha. The famed British brand and the Japanese giant have teamed up to supply Abt Cupra for …
Lola’s return to motorsport grew a step closer this week with the first shakedown of a Formula E car powered by the drivetrain it has co-developed with Yamaha.
The famed British brand and the Japanese giant have teamed up to supply Abt Cupra for next season’s Formula E championship, with the championship-winning team ending its relationship with Mahindra to align with the new Formula E entrant.
The first iteration of the Lola Yamaha Formula E collaboration made its dynamic debut on Wednesday for an initial run ahead of a full testing regime, which will take it to the Season 11 opener on December 7 in Sao Paulo Brazil.
“It was a special moment to see a Lola back on track,” said Lola motorsport director Mark Preston. “The initial shakedown is an important milestone in our Formula E journey with Yamaha, enabling engineers from both companies to gather valuable data to continue the development of our powertrain. It was a really positive day for the team and we look forward to going racing later this year.”
Lola is entering Formula E ahead of the GEN3 Evo ruleset, and its shakedown marks the first time the upcoming refreshed Formula E car has been seen in action by the public.
GEN3 Evo will run for the next two years before GEN4 — which Lola and Yamaha have already committed to, ensuring it will be involved in Formula E until at least 2030 — begins in 2026. For the first time, cars will have all-wheel-drive, and with aerodynamic improvements and new Hankook tires (made with 35 percent recycled materials) offering 10 percent more grip. Along with Lola Yamaha, Nissan, Jaguar, and Porsche have also made early commitments to GEN4.
Liberty Global is set to take a controlling interest in Formula E following the purchase of shares from Warner Brothers Discovery. The acquisition will take Liberty Global’s shareholding in the series to 65 percent, having previously bought a third …
Liberty Global is set to take a controlling interest in Formula E following the purchase of shares from Warner Brothers Discovery.
The acquisition will take Liberty Global’s shareholding in the series to 65 percent, having previously bought a third back in 2015, and is subject to regulatory approval, which is expected to go through before the end of the year.
“First of all I’d like to offer my thanks to Warner Bros. Discovery for the support and guidance they’ve provided Formula E over the past nine years,” said Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds. “Liberty Global has a proven track record of building and growing businesses and their investment in us comes at the perfect time as we plan for a period of exponential growth.
“Having personally known and worked alongside the Liberty leadership team for over a decade, I’m thrilled to be able to further benefit from their expertise and their resources. This is a powerful vindication of the huge potential of our sport.”
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European-based Liberty Global’s portfolio includes stakes in British television network ITV, UK television and broadband provider Virgin Media, and Dutch TV channel Ziggo Sport. The telecommunications giant is separate to the American mass media company Liberty Media, which owns Formula 1 and will soon own MotoGP, meaning that the purchase will not bring Formula E under the same umbrella as F1. The two will remain entirely independent of one another.
“We’re excited to take a controlling interest in Formula E, a business we first invested in nearly ten years ago,” said Liberty Global CEO Mike Fries. “Formula E has a massive potential for further growth while integrating the most advanced sustainability standards in sports.
“The investment continues our approach of disciplined capital rotation across our Ventures portfolio and our strategy of making long-term investments in highly attractive businesses.”
Formula E’s calendar for the upcoming 2024-25 season, announced today, featured the standout revelation that the series would be returning to Miami for the first time in a decade. The championship visited the south Florida city in its inaugural …
Formula E’s calendar for the upcoming 2024-25 season, announced today, featured the standout revelation that the series would be returning to Miami for the first time in a decade.
The championship visited the south Florida city in its inaugural season, with a race on the streets being won by Nicolas Prost for the e.dams Renault team ahead of Scott Speed for Andretti and Abt Sportsline’s Daniel Abt.
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Formula E has made no secret of its desire to increase its footprint in North America, having also raced in Long Beach in that first year (as well as the year after), New York between 2017-22, and north of the border in Montreal in 2017. More recently it’s raced in Portland – where it will return in two-week’s time – but while the Pacific Northwest event was a huge success on its debut last year, the championship couldn’t resist the lure of Homestead Miami Speedway.
Formula E’s only previous visit to Miami came in its first season. Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images
“We think it’s a really good circuit, well suited to our style of racing, and the Miami name that comes with it, from a global audience, a global television audience, is a big draw,” Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds said of the move to Miami.
“I thought it was a very successful race in Portland last year, a very strong turnout and ticket sales have been pretty good this year as well for what is a doubleheader,” he said of Portland. “The race in Portland last year was a little bit of a surprise for us, I think. It delivered a much better race than we thought it might, and I think it being an IndyCar track, that opened our eyes up to the possibility of using other IndyCar tracks in the U.S. and the IndyCar crowd who largely came to watch it, because it is an IndyCar crowd there, were very very positive about our style of racing, the infrastructure we brought, the extent of the show.”
But while Miami’s return to the calendar has come at Portland’s expense, that’s not intended to be a trend that will continue, with Dodds describing the U.S as one of two “priority markets” for the series, along with China.
“We probably have around seven or eight different large U.S. cities currently talking to us about putting a race on in their city, so those conversations are live and always ongoing,” Dodds said. “One thing I’ve said previously is our calendar can sustain two races in North America and probably two races in China as the two locations in the world where we could put on two races, so I think what you might find in time is the North America market is an ‘and’, not an ‘or’, so we add an additional race location as opposed to continually changing out the U.S. locations.”
One potential additional U.S. location remains Los Angeles. Often talked about, it had been expected to be on next season’s schedule. But while Dodds confirmed “it’s not one for Season 11”, he did insist “I wouldn’t write off Los Angeles as a potential venue” for a future race.
Formula E has unveiled its schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will feature a record 17 races at 11 locations, including a return visit to Miami. Less than a quarter of the races will take place on permanent circuits, bucking what seemed to be a …
Formula E has unveiled its schedule for the 2024-25 season, which will feature a record 17 races at 11 locations, including a return visit to Miami.
Less than a quarter of the races will take place on permanent circuits, bucking what seemed to be a trend of Formula E moving over to established venues at the expense of its customary street circuits. Those permanent tracks will be Autodromo Hermanos Rodriguez, Homestead Miami Speedway, and Shanghai International Circuit.
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The season will straddle two calendar years for the first time since the 2019-20 season, with things kicking off in Brazil this December, before returning to Mexico in the new year. Then Diriyah in Saudi Arabia will follow, before an entirely new venue – which will be announced at a later date – in March.
Another new location, this time Homestead Miami Speedway, is the next stop in April, before the now annual visit to Monaco at the start of May. A three-event jaunt to Asia follows, with races in Tokyo, Japan, Shanghai, China, and Jakarta, Indonesia – returning after a one season break – before the staple event at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport and the finale in London to see out the season.
Jakarta returns to Formula E after a year away. Alastair Staley/Motorsport Images
The upcoming season, the first of the GEN3 Evo era, will feature six doubleheader events, with Saudi Arabia, Monaco, Japan, China, Germany, and the United Kingdom each hosting two races over a single weekend. For the event in Tokyo, the expansion to a doubleheader comes after a successful debut in the Japanese capital back in March – the first time a professional motor race had taken place on Japanese streets (pictured top).
“We could’ve sold the tickets for the Tokyo race multiple times over, and it was the first time that they’d ever closed the roads in Tokyo for any sporting event outside of the Tokyo marathon,” said Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds. “So the fact that they’ve invited us to do two races there back-to-back is a massive sign of confidence from the Tokyo metropolitan government and I think brilliant for Japanese fans who were unable to secure a ticket last year, they’ll have two gos at doing that, on both the Saturday and the Sunday.”
Meanwhile Monaco’s two races will mark the first time a top-level series has raced there twice on the same weekend, and comes after another highly competitive event on the streets of the principality seven weeks ago.
“It’s interesting, (there was) lots of talk after the Formula 1 race in Monaco about whether after 95 years that circuit is still suitable as a motor racing circuit,” said Dodds. “We delivered over 200 overtakes on the Monaco circuit in the formula E race this year, so I think to be granted the opportunity to go there and do back-to-back races for the first time ever in motorsport history in Monaco, again it’s a lovely moment for us as a championship.”
One glaring omission is that of Italy, which is off the Formula E calendar for the first time since the 2016-17 season (aside from the COVID-affected 2019-20 campaign).
Dodds says that Formula E is still keen to race in Italy, but after outgrowing its previous home on the streets of Rome, then trialling Misano earlier this year, it is exploring other avenues which will enable it to have a long-term footprint in the country.
“We definitely want to establish a home in Italy, that’s never been in question in our business,” he said. “We raced in Rome for a long time, and I think everybody knows a combination of our cars getting faster and the circuit being properly maxed out in our ability to race faster cars on that circuit, and a little bit about the economics as well, meant that Rome didn’t look like it was a long-term home for us, particularly as we’ve gone to GEN3 Evo and we’ve got our eyes on GEN4.
“Misano came to us as an option as a possibility. We tried it … we were made to feel to feel so incredibly welcome at Misano, the facilities were great, the leadership team were brilliant, they made us feel incredibly welcome and it felt like a lovely event, but the reality is for the location, which is quite a way away from the nearest airport, and the style of racing, which not every one of the drivers and teams loved, it didn’t feel to us like that was going to be the permanent home, the long-term home. We think we need to be closer to a large city, and ideally we would be on a street circuit, not a permanent circuit there.
Misano drops away after a single year on the Formula E calendar. Andrew Ferraro/Motorsport Images
“So our view was that if that’s not going to be our permanent home for this calendar, let’s introduce a different venue and keep looking and make sure we get the right home for Italy in the future.
“Taking Italy out for a year (is) obviously a difficult step,” he added, “but obviously a long-term commitment to bring Italy back into the calendar at the right venue I think is important.”
The total of 17 races is one more than the current season, which was set to also have 17 until the late cancellation of the Hyderabad E-Prix, but while one spot on the calendar remains TBD – which has been confirmed to be another temporary circuit – Dodds is confident there won’t be a repeat of this season’s late culling of another event.
“The location we have is in a place where the sign-off procedure requires some time,” Dodds explained. “I wouldn’t put it in as a TBD with the date secured if I wasn’t highly confident that we’re over the line already, at least we’re technically over the line if not contractually over the line, so I have high confidence that it will go ahead.
“But having been through this now last year, until we have super high confidence that everything’s buttoned down, we wouldn’t want to put it down as a named location.”
Once again, the Berlin rounds will clash with the FIA World Endurance Championship, a particularly difficult thing for Formula E to navigate with a number of its drivers also WEC regulars. But despite all efforts being made, the clash once again proved unavoidable.
“Alberto Longo, our chief championship officer, and the CEO of WEC met pretty extensively to try and avoid as much as was humanly possible,” said Dodds. “The great challenge we have is that we’re two growing motorsport series and we both try and avoid Formula 1 where possible, and then there’s some special holidays that get put in the calendar and in the end you just simply run out of weekends.
“So we’ve tried desperately to avoid everything, both sides, we end up with Interlagos as a clash with the Berlin race. It’s unavoidable for us, so what we are doing is giving plenty of notice to both championships’ teams, both manufacturers and drivers, there will be drivers that obviously that creates conflict and they’ll have to make choices.”
Nevertheless, Dodds looked at a positive slant on it, saying that it opens the door for drivers to debut in the series.
“We have seen some pretty cool debuts from new drivers into the championship,” he said. “I know the fans quite enjoy seeing new drivers in the championship and we can’t avoid that clash in the Berlin weekend. Hopefully we’ll be giving the teams plenty of time to sort that out in advance and make sure they get the commitment from their drivers.”
2024-25 Formula E Calendar
Round 1 Sao Paulo, Brazil December 7 2024
Round 2 Mexico City, Mexico January 11 2025
Rounds 3 & 4 Diriyah, Saudi Arabia February 14-15 2025
Round 5 TBD, TBD March 8 2025
Round 6 Miami, USA April 12 2025
Rounds 7 & 8 Monte Carlo, Monaco May 3-4 2025
Rounds 9 & 10 Tokyo, Japan May 17-18
Rounds 11 & 12 Shanghai, China May 31-June 1 2025
Round 13 Jakarta, Indonesia June 21 2025
Rounds 14 & 15, Berlin, Germany July 12-13 2025
Rounds 16 & 17, London, United Kingdom 26-27 July.
It hasn’t even hit the track yet, but Lola has already committed to Formula E’s upcoming GEN4 ruleset. The revived manufacturer will join the all-electric series next season, in partnership with Yamaha, as powertrain supplier for Abt Cupra in what …
It hasn’t even hit the track yet, but Lola has already committed to Formula E’s upcoming GEN4 ruleset.
The revived manufacturer will join the all-electric series next season, in partnership with Yamaha, as powertrain supplier for Abt Cupra in what will be the beginning of a two-year period of the GEN3 Evo formula. In committing past that, to GEN4, Lola joins Nissan, Jaguar, and Porsche in inking a long-term deal with the series taking it to 2030.
“We are excited to be confirming our commitment to GEN4,” said Lola’s Motorsport director Mark Preston (above center). “Formula E is an ideal platform for powertrain and software development that we can use for broader motorsport and automotive applications.
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“We feel the opportunity for innovation in this series will only increase as the performance of the cars and technology develops, giving greater scope to develop innovative technologies across global motorsport and in the broader zero emissions transportation space.”
Formula E CEO Jeff Dodds (pictured above right) described Lola’s latest announcement as “a huge privilege” for the series.
“With their historic return to top-tier motorsport for Season 11 next year, we’re delighted that Lola Cars will also be committing to the GEN4 era – promising their presence will be on the Formula E grid until at least 2030,” he said. “Their trust in our series for their latest venture into electrification and innovation is testament to our ability to attract the biggest names in motorsport, as well as our joint ambition to continue to grow this championship.
“It’s a huge privilege for us, and we can’t wait to see what they can do next year when the famous Lola marque hits the track for the first time.”
Antonio Felix da Costa feels he’s “having a run of a championship-contending driver” after winning for the second time in three races. The Portuguese driver began the season with three non-scores and was the subject of speculation that he would be …
Antonio Felix da Costa feels he’s “having a run of a championship-contending driver” after winning for the second time in three races.
The Portuguese driver began the season with three non-scores and was the subject of speculation that he would be replaced at TAG Heuer Porsche by Abt Cupra driver Nico Mueller. The change never happened, however, and after back-to-back to-six finishes in Sao Paulo and Tokyo, da Costa won the first race of the Misano doubleheader. The win was subsequently stripped due to his car’s throttle damper spring not conforming to regulations, although that ruling remains subject to an ongoing appeal. Should it be reinstated, it would be three wins from the last seven races, and make da Costa the only three-time winner this season.
“I’m not doing many things different, to be honest — I think we just understood what works for me, as a team and we diverged a little bit from what works for Pascal and that’s fine,” da Costa said of his turnaround in form. “We just took a little bit of time to understand, mainly for the one-lap performance, and in the races we’ve usually been strong. I’m still super sad that me and Pascal haven’t been able to get on the podium together — we’ve been telling each other that we need to make that happen and it’s either him or me.
“But I’m super happy with the momentum that we’ve been able to build. It’s been a big run of races since Sao Paulo — almost every two weeks we’ve been racing and we’ve been able to crack on and keep building a little bit more every weekend with some sixth places, fifth places, and then eventually we got three wins on the track in the last six or seven races.
“So definitely good momentum. Really a shame how the year started, plus that lost win in Misano, otherwise I think we’ve been having a run of a championship-contending car and driver. It is what it is, we just try to have fun and give good races to the team.”
Shanghai continued the run of strong momentum for da Costa, here running third behind Stoffel Vandoorne and Jake Hughes. Sam Bagnall/Motorsport Images
After his Shanghai victory, da Costa joins teammate Pascal Wehrlein and Jaguar duo Nick Cassidy and Mitch Evans as a two-time winner this season, but he admits the lost Misano win and the chance to lead the series in victories has been playing on his mind.
“That is something I’ve thought about,” he said. “Mitch has got two victories, Cass and Pascal as well, so it shows that the Jags and the Porsches, especially in these types of races where efficiency’s key, we have a little bit of an edge on the others I think, and that’s good.
“I’ve been through it all — I’ve been racing for 20-plus years and I don’t want to say that I’m getting old but we just get a little bit more used to difficult moments sometimes and how to deal with them. It’s never nice but it is what it is and we just have to crack on.”
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After six events — nine races — in 11 weeks, Formula E now enters a five-week break before the series returns to Portland International Raceway, and da Costa has high hopes for the races in the U.S.
“That was one of my best weekends last year — I got a podium there as well, and I love racing in the States,” he said. “We always do a little bit of a training camp before. Last year I was with Norman Nato) and Stoff Vandoorne) in LA getting ready for the race and it paid off.
“I do enjoy racing in the States because I think they do it differently there, they do it well, and yeah it’s going to be fun.”
