New York City E-Prix: Felix Da Costa secures win from lights-to-flag
17th July 2022DS Techeetah’s Antonio Felix Da Costa put in a superb performance to secure his first race win of the season after he led the race from lights-to-flag.
How the race unfolded…
It was a superb start from Da Costa who managed to lead, unchallenged, into the first corner ahead of Mahindra’s Alexander Sims and Mercedes-EQ’s championship contender, Stoffel Vandoorne. While, further down the grid, in P4, Tag Heuer Porsche’s Andre Lotterer seemingly jump started.
When the pack arrived at the Manhattan hairpin, at turn 10, all of the drivers defended the inside line except for Jaguar TCS Racing’s Sam Bird who tried to make a move around the outside.
With just over 35 minutes left on the clock, 12th-placed Dan Ticktum, NIO 333, was the first driver to activate his first, and only, bout of attack mode. Dragon/Penske Autosport’s Antonio Giovinazzi, in P16, and Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein (P19) followed suit, a lap later.
Da Costa and Sims went wide to activate their attack mode, with just over 30 minutes left, this allowed Vandoorne, in P3, to slip down the middle and take the lead of the race. Vandoorne slipped wide to activate his attack mode, a lap later, and the Belgian driver returned to the race in the same position he was a lap prior.
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans tried to grab P4 away from Mercedes’ Nyck De Vries, but the Dutch Formula E world champion pushed Evans to the wall, on the inside down into turn six. However, Evans hit a unexpected bump in the road and struggled to get his car slowed down in time.
The Jaguar locked up into the corner but Evans managed to keep it out of the wall, and continue on without losing a position.
Despite an order to push, after 19 laps and 25 minutes, Vandoorne – who had a minute more of attack mode – wasn’t able to overtake Sims for second-place. However, a minute later, Sims was caught napping into turn six. This allowed Vandoorne to slip up the inside line and snatch away P2.
Just under 10 minutes was left on the clock, Giovinazzi was found in the pit lane and the Italian soon retired from the race.
De Vries soon found himself inches away from the wall, and into the bump in the road. As a result, De Vries bounced over the bump and locked up into turn six. Fortunately, the Dutch world champion managed to keep himself out of the wall, the same as Evans.
In the final minutes, ROKiT Venturi Racing’s Lucas Di Grassi found himself in the barrier, on the inside line of turn six. Due to the way he was positioned, across the track, Di Grassi temporarily blocked the track and created a traffic jam. Luckily, the ROKiT driver was able to get going again and the track was clear, once again. However, the ROKiT soon pulled over, a couple of corners later.
Podium:
- Antonio Felix Da Costa, DS Techeetah
- Stoffel Vandoorne, Mercedes-EQ
- Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing
That’s it for the article: Formula E New York City E-Prix: Felix Da Costa secures first win of season! What did you think of the race? Let us know in the comments!
Read more Formula E here:
- Formula E 2022 New York City: Stoffel Vandoorne tops first practice
- Formula E New York City E-Prix Preview
- Formula E Monaco E-Prix: Stoffel Vandoorne secures win in the Principality
- Gen3 Formula E car revealed
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Hi, I’m Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion.
I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I’ve loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
Kamron Kent
Hi, I'm Kamron. I created ApexMotorsports.co.uk in the dying embers of the 2021 Formula 1 world championship. It allowed me freedom to write whatever I wanted to write about which was all things motorsports, my passion. I have put a lot of effort in over the years to keep this website in its best shape and I've loved seeing the brand grow consistently, month-on-month, year-on-year. My ambition is to keep watching this brand grow into a primary outlet of news for all things motorsports whilst fueling my desire to pursue a career in sports journalism, specialising in motorsports.
