The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is amping up for an absorbing North American double-header this weekend (29-30 June).
The Portland International Raceway (PIR) preparing to welcome the all-electric single-seater series for the second time as a titanic title tussle speeds swiftly towards its conclusion.
Portland joined the Formula E calendar last year, serving up a slipstreaming spectacle and a record number of overtakes. The fast-and-flowing 3.19km circuit is renowned for generating wheel-to-wheel action and nail-biting finishes, as evidenced by Nick Cassidy pipping Jake Dennis to victory that day by a scant three tenths-of-a-second – with less than five seconds blanketing the entire top 12. Impressively, the New Zealander’s success came from down in tenth position on the grid.
Now competing for Jaguar TCS Racing, Cassidy returns at the summit of the Season 10 standings and holding a 25-point advantage over his nearest pursuer, having taken the chequered flag no lower than fourth in the most recent six races. The championship leader will be eager to repeat his result from 12 months ago as he strives to strengthen his grip on a maiden Drivers’ crown.
TAG Heuer Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein sits second in the classification, but the German managed just eighth place in Portland in 2023 and is bidding to bounce back from a non-score last time out in China due to a puncture picked up in a clash with NEOM McLaren Formula E Team rival Sam Bird.
Mitch Evans in the second Jaguar is another ten points adrift in third, with the erstwhile championship runner-up charging from the rear of the grid in the US last summer to fourth at the flag, posting fastest lap along the way.
A solitary point behind Evans, Oliver Rowland is similarly in close contention for Nissan Formula E Team courtesy of six rostrum finishes so far in 2024 – including a second career triumph at Misano. The Briton has yet to compete at PIR after sitting out the second half of the 2022/23 campaign.
Jake Dennis (Andretti Formula E) prevailed in a no-holds-barred duel with António Félix da Costa (Porsche) on the final lap in Oregon last year to scoop the runner-up spoils, obliging the Season 6 champion to settle for third.
Dennis’ hopes of successfully defending his title, however, appear to be fading. Having not ascended the podium since mid-April, he is 54 points shy of the top of the table in fifth with only four races remaining, and in need of a stellar weekend to get his bid back on-track. Da Costa, conversely, is arguably Formula E’s driver of the moment with two victories from the latest three E-Prix – a tag he will be hoping to hang onto in the Pacific Northwest.
The two former champions are separated in the standings by Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Penske), who has already reached the rostrum on two occasions this season, with Maserati MSG Racing’s Maximilian Günther two spots further back in eighth and a top six-finisher in Portland in 2023.
McLaren’s Jake Hughes and Andretti ace Norman Nato both sprayed podium champagne in Shanghai – a career-first for the British driver and a first of the campaign for the Frenchman – and will be aiming to maintain that momentum in Portland, while Envision Racing star Sébastien Buemi scythed from 16th up to fifth in America last year as the 2015/16 title-winner uncorked a vintage performance.
Round 13 of the season will get underway at 14:03 local time (23:03 CEST) on Saturday, 29 June with round 14 following at the same time on Sunday, 30 June.
Source: Formula E
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