WEHRLEIN STILL SERIES LEADER DESPITE CAPE TOWN CRASH

Feb 25, 2023

Monaco Increase Management Pascal Wehrlein still leads the Formula E championship classification with 80 points, despite coming out of the Cape Town e-prix with a DNF following a collision on the first lap. For the new South African event, the MIM driver chose to write ‘Daddy On Tour’ on the inner side of his Porsche car Halo protection, to celebrate the birth of his first daughter. The 2.921 Km, 12-turn course around the Cape Town stadium proved to be very fast and challenging, with Wehrlein easily coming out of his Group A qualifying but not advancing through quarter finals where he was racing against Cassidy. Wehrlein’s 1min 08sec 598 was worth a good sixth place on the starting grid, but as usual Porsche’s best asset was in its race pace, as Pascal’s team-mate Antonio Felix Da Costa proved by coming out as a winner in the race. Wehrlein’s race, instead, was cut short as early as Turn 7 in the opening lap. The MIM driver had battled with Buemi at the start, eventually allowing the Swiss driver enough space to get through in the first straight and following him closely. As the cars braked for the corner though, Buemi was forced to move to the right to avoid hitting the back of Vergne’s car. Wehrlein was coming up full speed from behind and the collision with the Envision car was inevitable, resulting in a damaged front suspension that put Pascal out of the race. Wehrlein’s direct rival for the championship, Jake Dennis, also had a difficult day, so that the points standing still sees MIM’s Wehrlein in the lead with Dennis 18 points behind, ahead of the next Formula E round in Brazil.