(Reuters) – Antonio Felix da Costa won Formula E’s inaugural Cape Town ePrix with some bold overtaking on Saturday while Porsche team mate and championship leader Pascal Wehrlein drew a blank after a first-lap collision.
The victory in the fifth of 16 races this season was Da Costa’s first of the campaign and lifted the 2019-20 champion, who started the race in 11th place, to fourth overall in the standings.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished second for DS Penske with Nick Cassidy third for Envision Racing.
The field was depleted after Mahindra and customer team ABT Cupra withdrew their four cars due to safety concerns about the rear suspension.
Jaguar’s Sam Bird also failed to start due to car damage sustained in a qualifying crash.
Nissan’s Sacha Fenestraz had taken pole with the fastest lap in Formula E history at an average speed of 154.987 kph.
The French-Argentine driver hit the wall on the final lap and crashed out.
Wehrlein, who collided with Envision’s Sebastien Buemi, leads the championship with 80 points to Jake Dennis’s 62 for Avalanche Andretti, with the Briton also failing to score. Vergne is third on 50 and da Costa has 46.
The next round is in Sao Paulo on March 25.
(Reporting by Alan Baldwin in London, editing by Clare Fallon)
