Porsche to use Shanghai E-Prix victory as springboard for Portland Formula E challenge

It has been almost a month since Porsche left the Shanghai double-header, which took place from May 25-26, with a victory for António Félix Da Costa and a runners-up position for Pascal Wehrlein. It was da Costa’s second win of the season.

Those performances solidified a strong second position in the teams’ standings for the TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team, and keeps Wehrlein in touch with Nick Cassidy in the race for the driver’s crown.

With four races remaining - two in Portland and two in London - the pressure is hotting-up as the 2023-24 season gets set for a thrilling climax.

Shanghai flashback

A return to China for the first time since March 2019 was welcomed by the Formula E paddock, as the Shanghai International Circuit hosted the all-electric world championship for the very first time.

The track is well-known for hosting the Chinese Grand Prix and was specially adapted for Formula E with a challenging 3.051-kilometre track that climaxed with a tricky chicane that fed back on to the long main straight.

It was known from an early stage that both races, with Saturday’s being one lap longer than Sunday’s, would be another test of teams and driver’s strategic skills. This was due to the high-level of energy saving required and the relative lack of heavy braking zones that would regenerate energy from the unique technical set-ups from the efficient all-electric powertrains.

The first race saw Wehrlein continue his excellent qualifying form this season with a strong place on the starting grid with fourth. This developed in to a well-judged race that saw the #94 Porsche 99X Electric fighting hard with the Jaguars of Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy.

The race boiled down to a sprint at the end as Wehrlein duelled for the lead but Evans ultimately won out with Wehrlein finishing under the rear wing of the Jaguar, just 0.7s off the win.

In a dramatic race of multiple battles for positions da Costa took the chequered flag in a hard-fought fifth position. But a post-race penalty after forcing another car off the track saw a time penalty applied and ensured he was outside of the points.

Da Costa claims revenge on Sunday

The disappointment for da Costa didn’t last long, however.

Sunday brought a fresh challenge and the #13 Porsche delivered a stunning win after one of the most accomplished performances of the season.

The one lap shorter event on Sunday brought a faster pace throughout the 29-lap EPrix with da Costa starting from third position on the grid, his best qualifying performance of the season to date.

Immediately getting in to a solid rhythm and executing a well-conceived attack mode strategy, da Costa was at the front of the field for the duration of the race and made a decisive break for the chequered flag.

The strategy proved accurate as he was able to hold off the chasing McLaren Nissan of Jake Hughes to claim his second win in two events and boost his points tally to 84 and leapfrog Maximilian Guenther to seventh position in the standings.

The win by da Costa was also the 60th occasion in Formula E that Porsche had registered points in its time in the all-electric world championship.

While there was joy for da Costa, there was dejection for Wehrlein, who’s Porsche 99X Electric had suffered some damage in Saturday’s encounter.

Pascal saw a probable points score taken from him when hit by Sam Bird’s McLaren Nissan at the chicane. The resulting puncture was fixed quickly by the #94 TAG Heuer Porsche crew but without a safety car intervention there was no chance to claw his way back in to contention.

Despite that disappointment he is still in contention for the driver’s title in an excellent season that has seen him be on average the best qualifier and lead the most laps during the season to date.

Porsche’s customer team, Andretti, also had a fruitful weekend in Shanghai with Norman Nato claiming a third place and fastest lap on Sunday and team-mate Jake Dennis taking a fifth position on Saturday.

Crucial Portland weekend ahead

The American leg of the 2023-24 ABB FIA Formula E world championship season heads to Portland International Raceway in Oregon from June 29-30.

The second visit to the picturesque parkland track will bring several key challenges for the teams, notably a modified end to the fast and flowing circuit.

A new chicane will see the flow of the cars slowed for the long main straight meaning that overtaking will quite be as easy. However, the high energy targets will be the defining key to finding success at one of the calendars’ most pack-racing likely venues.

Porsche has shown in previous races it is adept at running both of its cars in close proximity and executing a degree of choreography to try and assist both drivers at the front of the field. This will again be crucial in Portland.

Last season, da Costa and Wehrlein finished third and eighth respectively in a strong combined race. The duo will continue to fight to close the gap to teams’ leaders Jaguar in its quest to claim the 2023-24 silverware.