DS PENSKE celebrates back-to-back podium success after Jean Eric Vergne claimed second place at the inaugural Cape Town e-Prix this Saturday 25th February, after a closely fought performance around the streets of Cape Town. Stoffel Vandoorne secured P7 after starting P12 on the grid, these results bring home the second double points haul in a row.
The team delivered once again a very strong performance around the flat-out Cape Town course against the spectacular backdrop of Table Mountain to the sold out race of 25,000 fans and many more watching at home.
After a solid qualifiying session, JEV started from fifth position, lining up close to the front where anything is possible. He advanced into the top three on lap 21 after Max Gunther crashed and the leading pair of Envision’s Cassidy and Nissan’s Fenestraz collected attack mode just after the full-course yellow period started. Thanks to a better energy-management, JEV overtook for P2 on lap 25 before taking the lead from Da Costa. After a fierce battle with ex team mate , JEV crossed the finish line in second position and set the fastest lap with a time of 1 m9.74s behind the wheels of his DS E TENSE FE23.
The frenchman takes his 32nd Formula E podium and becomes the only driver in Formula E history to claim a podium finish in 20 different cities.
Stoffel Vandoorne, the Formula E reigning champion, crossed the finish line in 7th position thanks to his impressive racecraft and a well-managed strategy from the team.
Today’s 25-point haul advances DS PENSKE to fifth in the team standings. The team looks forward to heading to Sao Paulo for Round 6 on Saturday 25 March, 2023, to continue its ascending journey in the championship.
Team results – 2023 Cape Town E-prix
|
Driver |
FP1 |
FP2 |
Quali |
Race |
|
JEV |
16 |
11 |
5 |
2 |
|
VAN |
14 |
6 |
12 |
7 |
Jay Penske, Team Principal and CEO
‘Seeing JEV on the podium twice in a row confirms our performance, he’s done a fantastic job and moreover, shows his skills to adapt quickly to the fastest track of the calendar.
I’m confident Stoffel’s fortunes will turn around very soon too, he fought hard an drove a great race to end in the points. Well done to the whole team, we are definitely on the right direction and we need to keep that momentum.’
Jean-Éric Vergne, Formula E Champion in 2018 and 2019
“It’s been a really nice weekend in Cape Town, I’ve loved this city and the location of the track was amazing. The track itself was very, very cool. Overall, I’m very happy with second place, and happy to be frustrated with second place! I think we’re coming back stronger race after race as a team, and as long as we keep going in that direction, I’m going to be very happy.”
Stoffel Vandoorne, reigning Formula E world champion
“It’s been a complicated weekend. To be honest, I feel like as a team we’ve done a good job in the practice sessions and qualifying to get the car into good shape. Unfortunately, the luck just didn’t go my way, especially in qualifying. I was on a very good lap, but then there was a red flag. Then, and I got impeded on my other lap, so in the end I qualified P12 on the grid which would normally have been a top five start. The team made some good strategy decisions alongside our good race pace. In the end, we had a good race and managed to recover to P7 for some points. It was great to see JEV back on the podium which confirms our continuous progress and shows the result of keeping our heads down and continuing to work hard. At some point, my luck will turn around!”
