They say that the first times are always the most special. India, in Hyderabad, has already experienced its premiere as the venue for Formula E and this time it was South Africa’s turn, in Cape Town, to feel the electricity of these races, and boy did it… The fifth was surely the most exciting race we had in 2023 and He fell back on the side of Porsche, but not with the leader Wehrlein, who did not finish, but with Da Costa after defeating Vergne, his former partner in DS, in a fight of many carats. He went through everything, even before the light went out.
And it is that the output was somewhat lackluster with nothing less than five casualties on the grid: the two Mahidras and their ABT Cupra clients for irreparable problems with the rear suspension found in Di Grassi’s car on Friday, and Bird’s, who crashed in qualifying (collided with Mortara) and they couldn’t repair their Jaguar in time. And to that, we had to add another two dropouts in the early stages of the race, one especially transcendent for being that of the World Cup leader, Wehrlein (started sixth), who hit Buemi from behind.
The Swiss was able to continue, but the German was not, leaving the others a good opportunity to close the gap, especially Dennis, second in contention, although he did not score (he was 13th) after starting 14th with a three-place penalty for bothering Vandoorne in classification. While the Safety Car I was out on the track so I could salvage Wehrlein’s Porsche, Mortara also abandoned with some problem in his Maserati, and he was not going to be the only one for the Italian brand, because later it would be Gunther the one who ended up KO after hitting the wall fighting in the front group.
So much incident made the race get tighter with each break and that left a most exciting finish in the fight for victory with nine cars in five seconds. But only two managed to stand out in the end, Vergne and Da Costa, and left a memorable duel for the victory that was for the Portuguese after successfully carrying out a risky overtaking. He saved the day for Porsche, as Wehrlein saved the World Championship lead (he had a huge lead) and Cassidy the podium after starting on pole and holding off Rast and Buemi.
Cape Town ePrix qualifying
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This is how the World Cup goes
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