After a blistering start that gave a significant backing of points at the top of the championship, Porsche suffers a worrying downturn in the current Formula E season.
The team started the second half of the season at the Monaco E-Prix scoring just one point from Pascal Wherlein, who was displaced from first place by Nick Cassidy.
The Monte Carlo race was not a good start to the second half of the season for the squad. Apart from Wherlein’s decline, António Félix da Costa, who took victory in the 2021 Monaco E-Prix, finished fifteenth.
Meanwhile, the Avalanche Andretti customer team, after a tough test in the spectacular Monegasque labyrinth of curves, was rewarded with third place for Jake Dennis.
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Current Figures
After nine of 16 races, Porsche is in second place in the championship with 169 points, behind Envision Racing (182 points). Avalanche Andretti, with 119 points, moved up to fourth place. Pascal Wehrlein, who is now second in the drivers’ standings, is behind New Zealander Nick Cassidy (121 points).
Jake Dennis (96 points) is third, António Félix da Costa (68 points) is sixth and Germany’s André Lotterer (23 points), who failed to score in Monaco, is 13th.
After a difficult qualifying on the most spectacular street circuit in the world, Wehrlein started from twelfth place on the grid. On lap six he entered the points with his Porsche 99X Electric by running as high as eighth, just before losing positions during the activation of Attack Mode.
In the final phase of the race, which was characterized by exciting wheel-to-wheel duels, he overtook some of his competitors and finally finished tenth. António Félix da Costa started from nineteenth place and fought his way up to eighth place. When a competitor hit him in the rear, he had to pit because he had a damaged tire and, as a result, lost positions.
Reactions
Florian Modlinger, Porsche Competition Director noted that it is a disappointing result. “During the race, Antonio fought his way into the points from far back, but he had to pit because of a damaged tire due to contact. Pascal could also have scored more than one point today. In the first half of the season we showed that we are capable of competing for victories and podiums on different circuits. There are still seven races to go. We are in the fight for the championship and we will work hard to bring home better results in the next races.”
“We knew the race was going to be tough. Still, we expected more in Monaco and we are disappointed that we were not able to show the true potential of our car. Now we have to look ahead and recover the performance we have shown so many times this year,” said Wherlein for his part.
In the same vein, da Costa regretted that they have squandered a spectacular start to the season, but is confident that they will work hard to make up lost ground.
