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Not for the first time in the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, Nick Cassidy mastered the peloton-style racing to claim a third victory of the season, at the inaugural Portland E-Prix.

It’d been a challenging weekend at the Portland International Raceway for Cassidy ahead of the race, with him having struggled for pace. He could only salvage tenth in qualifying, leaving him with lots to do during the race. Just like in Berlin and Monaco though, the Kiwi worked his way to the front, before timing a late push of pace to perfection. He saved enough energy once again so that he could increase the pace at the end of the race, catching those beyond off guard.

After very much making up for his Jakarta woes, Cassidy’s win has seen him rise to second in the Drivers’ Championship, where he sits just a point behind Jake Dennis. Cassidy’s result has also benefited Envision Racing, who are just six points behind TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team ahead of Rome.

Cassidy was seemingly in love with his car after the race, where he praised his team and Jaguar for delivering an unbelievable package.

“It’s cool. I’ve had a good run in America the last couple of years. I love racing here,” Cassidy said in his post-race interview.

Haas F1 Team’s Guenther Steiner admitted that the team’s performance at the Canadian Grand Prix was very disappointing, but made it clear that they are working hard to find a solution to the problems that are causing them difficulties when it comes to the race on Sunday.

Nico Hülkenberg started fifth on the grid, even with a three-place grid penalty after qualifying in second on Saturday, and despite having really good one-lap pace, the German fell all the way down to fifteenth, with Haas clearly struggling with tyre degradation and their overall pace.

It was a similar story for Kevin Magnussen, who fell to seventeenth in the race after starting thirteen. Steiner admitted that it wasn’t good enough at all but the silver lining is that the team have already identified the problem that they need to fix in the upcoming races, and the Team Principal has ensured that they will work hard and not hide behind good qualifying results.

“It’s pretty clear now, obviously the result is not what we should be doing and it’s very disappointing. I think we know where to look, the issue is as soon as we get into traffic and behind cars, our degradation is immense – we cannot get the tire performance back and we just slip back. We can clearly see it, as soon as we get away from free air and start to fight, we just degrade.

“We know really what we need to look for, and we’ll be looking for it. We need to put our heads together and try to find a solution to this and not hide behind good qualifying results.”

Nico Hülkenberg was downbeat following a poor Canadian Grand Prix for himself and Haas F1 Team, which saw him fall from fifth all the way down to fifteenth, with the American team struggling with their race pace.

Hülkenberg was disappointed with his performance but admitted it was expected. The German qualified on the front row in the wet Saturday qualifying session but was demoted to fifth after a three-place grid penalty. However, a fifth-place start was still impressive but the harsh reality of Haas’ race pace struggles saw him fall all the way down the order.

The German driver said that the team has a lot of work to do if they are to turn their good qualifying performances into good race performances, with their long-run pace and consistency really lacking.

“It was a one-way street in the wrong direction today. It was to some extent expected, but we obviously always hope for the best so that it’s better than what you had in the previous event. It just once again confirms that we have a lot of work to do on the long run pace and entire consistency because that’s really hurting our Sunday.”

Kevin Magnussen: “We were just lacking pace”

Kevin Magnussen reiterated the points that Hülkenberg made saying that he struggled with pace and in particular the tyres compared to everyone else during the race.

Scuderia AlphaTauri came away from the Canadian Grand Prix without any points, leaving them bottom of the Constructors Championship with Alex Albon and Williams Racing making a huge leap up into ninth, after finishing seventh in the race, to pull themselves five points ahead of the Italian team.

Yuki Tsunoda qualified poorly and was later handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding Charles Leclerc in qualifying meaning the Japanese driver started nineteenth on the grid for the race. AlphaTauri Technical Director, Jody Egginton explained that the team tried to differ the strategy to help Tsunoda recover and get back into contention to challenge for points.

“Yesterday’s qualifying positions made today’s race more difficult than it needed to be. This, combined with Yuki’s three-place penalty, forced us into trying something different and unfortunately, it didn’t work out. We made a very early stop with Yuki to use the free air to recover race time.

“The strategy was working quite well and Yuki got back into the pack, however, losing a bit of time behind Magnussen on older tyres, the decision was made to convert to a two-stop. This cost a bit more track position than expected due to a slow stop so ultimately, we couldn’t get back to the pack led by Albon.”

Nyck de Vries failed to score points again, but Egginton did admit that strategy was once again at fault, with the Dutchman pitting one lap before the safety car and losing out on a potential undercut. De Vries also had an incident with Kevin Magnussen and together with being stuck in traffic and having to adhere to blue flags, the Dutchman lost too much race time to be in content for a points finish,

Nyck de Vries is still yet to score points this season for Scuderia AlphaTauri after yet another disappointing race at the Canadian Grand Prix, but the Dutchman is looking to improve and become more competitive over the next few race weekends.

De Vries qualified poorly on the Saturday and ended up starting seventeenth, he struggled to make up much ground in the race either with the biggest moment of his race being an incident with Kevin Magnussen, which saw them both leave the track at Turn Three.

It all began when the AlphaTauri driver initiated a manoeuvre on the Haas car as they approached Turn One. Positioned on the inside, he seemed to force Magnussen towards the outer limits of the track, causing the Dane to slightly touch the grass as they entered Turn Two. Consequently, Magnussen found himself on the inside of De Vries as they battled further into sector one.

Their incident came when their wheels collided, resulting in Magnussen’s front wing end-plate picking up some damage. George Russell capitalized on the situation and seized the opportunity to overtake them, moving into twelfth place. However, the action didn’t stop there. De Vries decided to attempt a switchback move, aligning himself next to the Haas car as they headed towards Turn Three.

Being positioned on the inside line once again, the Dutchman pushed too hard on the brakes in his attempt to gain the upper hand. This caused him to lock up the tires, sending him straight ahead onto the escape road. With no other choice, Magnussen followed suit but cleverly placed his car to block the escape road’s exit, preventing De Vries from rejoining the track ahead of him.

Nick Cassidy mastered the peloton-style racing once again at the inaugural Portland E-Prix, as the Kiwi clinched his third victory of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship. Jake Dennis and António Félix da Costa completed the podium after what was a chaotic race.

Starting Grid

Starting on pole position for the inaugural Formula E race at the Portland International Raceway was Jake Dennis, who defeated Sacha Fenestraz in the duels. Dennis actually snatched the championship lead by two points following his first pole of the season, due to the three points he was awarded after the session. Former championship leader Pascal Wehrlein qualified twentieth but will start from eighteenth, due to both DS Penske drivers having been penalised with a pit-lane start.

The Start: Dennis Leads the Pack

So it was Dennis alongside Fenestraz on the front row, could the Briton capitalise on his sensational qualifying performance? As the red lights went out, it was Dennis who made the best start and led out of the opening few corners, with Fenestraz having remained in second. At the back and both DS Penske drivers had been released from the pits, as they quickly tried to catch the pack.

It was clear instantly that it was going to be a chaotic and strategic race, due to there not really being a part of the circuit where energy can be recovered. The man on the move early on was António Félix da Costa, who progressed from seventh to fourth in the opening three laps. Elsewhere, and Nico Müller broke his front wing, following a collision at the opening corner.

Jake Dennis snatched his first pole position of the season at the inaugural Portland E-Prix, after defeating rookie Sacha Fenestraz in the Final at the Portland International Raceway by just 0.079s. As well as that, the Briton is the new championship leader, due to having been awarded three points for pole.

Group A

Kicking-off qualifying were the eleven drivers occupying an odd position in the Drivers’ Championship. This meant championship leader Pascal Wehrlein was joined by Nick Cassidy, Jean-Éric Vergne, King of Jakarta Maximilian Günther, Sébastian Buemi, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sacha Fenestraz, Free Practice 2 pacesetter Norman Nato, Dan Ticktum, Sérgio Sette Câmara and Nico Müller.

With the championship fight being so close, it was vital that Wehrlein and Cassidy made it out of the duels, especially as the race is expected to be incredibly difficult. Halfway through the opening group and neither championship contender were in the top four, which was topped by rookie Fenestraz. Wehrlein sat in eighth with Cassidy in eleventh after the opening six minutes, whilst Vergne, Nato and Günther occupied second to fourth, respectively.

Cassidy jumped to fifth with two minutes remaining, with it having become clear that the track was speeding up. Both Cassidy and Wehrlein needed a huge final lap to make the top four, something the two title rivals incredibly failed to do. Cassidy could only claim sixth leaving him to start the race from the sixth row, whilst Wehrlein ended up in tenth, meaning the championship leader will start in nineteenth place.

At the front and the top four remained unchanged, with Fenestraz having topped the group from Vergne, Nato and Günther. It meant both Nissan Formula E Team drivers were into the duels.

Norman Nato topped the timesheets in Free Practice 2 at the inaugural Portland E-Prix, just a couple of hours ahead of an all-important qualifying session.

The opening session of the twelfth race day of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship was greeted by beautiful blue skies, as all the drivers once again ventured out onto the Portland International Raceway quickly. Friday’s Free Practice 1 session was already proof that it’s going to be a very fast weekend, as a new top-speed record and average speed across a lap record were broken.

FP1 pacesetter René Rast was once again demonstrating excellent pace in the opening five minutes, as he once again sat at the top of the timesheets. The German remained at the top as the opening ten minutes were completed, thanks to a 1:09.255. His quickest time after the first ten minutes of FP2 was around two tenths slower than his best time Friday evening, highlighting that there was still time to be found. Jake Hughes sat in second behind Rast, forming a NEOM McLaren Formula E Team 1-2.

The Woking-based team maintained their 1-2 as the session moved into its second half, with Sébastian Buemi having sat in third just over three tenths behind Rast. The vast majority of the drivers were clearly focusing on their race pace, as the leaderboard saw very little change. There was finally a change at the top though with just over ten minutes remaining, as Maximilian Günther went quicker than Rast. Günther’s time was still slower than Rast’s from Friday interestingly.

Elsewhere, Jean-Éric Vergne slotted into third with nine minutes remaining, demoting Hughes to fourth. Günther, Rast and Vergne remained as the top three as the second session of the weekend moved into its final five minutes, as several drivers began full power laps. As the chequered flag was flown, Norman Nato shot to the top on a 1:09.101. The Frenchman remained at the top as all the drivers completed their final laps, with Günther and Sam Bird having claimed second and third.

Amerigo Ventura‘s 2023 FIA European Cup for Cross-Country Bajas has been a series of heartbreaks. After beginning the year by crashing while leading the Baja TT Dehesa Extremadura in April, things seemed to look up for him during last week’s Rally Greece Off-Road when he survived the abysmal weather conditions to win both the T4 category and the FIA overall.

Unfortunately for him, the slightest measurement error in rebuilding his Yamaha YXZ1000R after the season-opening accident was his demise as he was disqualified for failing post-race scrutineering. According to the technical delegate who inspected the vehicle, the protective casing that separated the right-side fuel tank from the car’s frame was too narrow, with multiple measurements finding it to be between 34 mm and 38.7 mm wide while the FIA regulation states it must be at least 40 mm in width. The other hand, the tank on the left met standard at approximately 50 mm.

His Quaddy Racing team owner Angelo Montico explained the crew had inadvertently used three-millimetre space rubbers instead of the intended six, leading to the error. Unsurprisingly, the FIA deemed such a mistake fell on the team’s shoulders and disqualified him from the results.

Krzysztof Hołowczyc inherited the win as a result, while Ventura remains without any points in the European Cup standings.

Prior to the penalty, he had recorded a total time of 8:51:09, nearly twenty-five minutes ahead of Hołowczyc and 48:18 on T4 runner-up Miguel Valero Chuliá. Had the victory stuck, it would have made for a nice birthday present for his co-driver Mirko Brun.

Reading the box score, it might seem like Carson Hocevar took the lead with forty laps remaining and cruised to his second win of the 2023 NASCAR Craftsman Truck Series season, but his night in Nashville Superspeedway was a bit more stressful than that.

While he indeed took the lead from Corey Heim, it came on the heels of a restart following Dean Thompson‘s crash after spinning into the wall. After fending off pole-sitter Nick Sanchez and Zane Smith for the next thirty laps, their challenges became more of a concern after Stewart Friesen tapped Grant Enfinger and they spun through the grass with eight laps remaining.

Although too far out to force overtime, Hocevar still had to hang on for three more laps and ultimately pulled it off. The victory is his second of 2023 after claiming Texas in April, that also coming with a frantic final restart.

Smith settled for second, but it still provided him his first top ten since Kansas in early May.

“We just simply just struggled from first to second, but we were really good from third to fourth. That’s all there was to it,” said Smith. “I was honestly kind of bummed out when the caution came out there, because I knew we struggled all day on restarts. We had a really fast Speedco Ford. Just wish we had the clean air there. It’s been a rough four to five weeks. So to leave here with a stage win and being able to contend all night long, we should all be pretty proud.”

René Rast topped the opening practice session at the inaugural Portland E-Prix, as the fastest average lap and highest top-speed records were broken on the West Coast of the United States.

With the Portland International Raceway representing the fourth new venue of the 2022/23 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship, all the drivers were keen to get straight out onto the circuit. This weekend is set to be a peculiar one, given that the E-Prix is taking place on an actual circuit rather than a street track.

First out on the track which has hosted the likes of IndyCar and NASCAR, was Rast, in what were beautiful conditions. Remarkably, this weekend’s trip to the United States is the first time Formula E has visited a normal circuit since pre-season testing in Valencia. Given that it’s not a normal track for FE, there could be a few surprise names towards the top of the timesheets.

In the opening ten minutes, all the drivers were clearly getting a feel of the track; however, it quickly became clear that records were going to be broken. Several drivers broke the FE record for the fastest average speed across a lap, emphasising just how quick a weekend it’s going to be. The first to do so was Edoardo Mortara, who averaged over a hundred miles per hour.

Whilst that was happening, André Lotterer took to the grass at the final corner, to avoid a collision. It was Rast who topped the timing sheets in the opening stages courtesy of a 1:10.871, with just a second having staggeringly separated the top-eighteen. Jake Dennis made a move to the top halfway through the session though, whilst Avalanche Andretti Formula E team-mate Lotterer moved up to fourth with fourteen minutes remaining.

Brothers Carl and Craig Searles hope to race the Dakar Rally together in 2025, and will take their first major step towards that goal in October when they compete in the Rallye du Maroc. The duo confirmed their registration on Wednesday.

“Our entry for Rallye Du Maroc has been accepted. Racing this rally is part of our plan to qualify for Dakar in 2025,” begins a social media post from the brothers. “[…] We’re no strangers to Morocco, but not on motorbikes. We’ve been out in there in the Land Rovers many of times, all across these routes so we kind of know what to expect.

“We have a plan set out to get down there, more to come on that soon!”

Longtime motorcycle enthusiasts, the two developed an interest in Dakar from an early age before starting their careers in motocross. They eventually became instructors for BMW Off Road Skills, a school run by Dakar veteran Simon Pavey for aspiring adventure bike riders. Located in Wales, the programme introduced them to opportunities to break into the rally raid world.

Both have taken part in the BMW GS Trophy, an enduro series organised by BMW Motorrad, as well as 4×4 off-roading in their Toyota Land Cruiser. Carl is the older of the brothers by two years and won GS Trophy in 2018, while Craig represented the United Kingdom at the 2022 BMW International GS Trophy.

Fernando Alonso was asked to ‘lift and coast’ during the Canadian Grand Prix as a precaution, with Team Principal Mike Krack insisting it was best to be careful than to risk retiring from the race.

Alonso was running second at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve and battling with Lewis Hamilton when a radio message was sent to the Spaniard to lift and coast at the end of the straights, with the Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team pit wall believing an issue with the fuel system was developing.

He was heard over the radio asking when he could run at full speed again as he wanted to take the fight to Oracle Red Bull Racing’s Max Verstappen at the front of the field, but the precaution ran until the chequered flag, although he had done enough to match his best finish of the season in second.

Krack says the problem was costing them a few tenths of a second per lap, but rather than risk retirement, it was important to see the chequered flag and manage their so-called problem.

“We thought we had a problem on the fuel system, but we were not sure, so as a precaution, we said the best is to save some fuel and to lift and coast,” Krack is quoted as saying by RacingNews365.com.

Mike Krack has defended Lance Stroll after the Canadian could finish only ninth in his home Grand Prix, seven places behind his Aston Martin Aramco Cognizant Formula 1 Team team-mate Fernando Alonso, feeling he did well from where he started.

In the wet Qualifying session at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, Stroll struggled for grip and found himself eliminated in Q2 whereas Alonso went on to set a lap time good enough for a front row starting spot.  His Saturday was further compromised when he was handed a three-place grid penalty for impeding, meaning he started only sixteenth on Sunday.

Alonso continued to be a podium contender and re-passed Lewis Hamilton for second place around mid-distance, a position he would then hold on to until the chequered flag.

Stroll, on the other hand, found himself stuck in a DRS train for much of the afternoon and was also compromised by the timing of the safety car, which came out just a lap after he had made a pit stop.

Krack, the Team Principal at Aston Martin, says Stroll deserves credit for his performance to go from sixteenth on the grid to ninth, with a last gasp pass on Valtteri Bottas a highlight. 

Pierre Gasly hopes talks can take place ahead of the Austrian Grand Prix weekend about impeding in Qualifying after he saw his weekend ruined by Carlos Sainz Jr. getting in his way last weekend in Canada.

The BWT Alpine F1 Team driver was on a lap that could have put him inside the top ten during Q1 on the Saturday afternoon at the Circuit Gilles Villeneuve, but he found a slow moving Sainz on the racing line going into the final chicane.

Gasly was forced to take avoiding action by running off track, meaning his lap time was invalidated, and with time running out, he was unable to get another lap time on the board and he ended up only seventeenth on the grid. 

In the Spanish Grand Prix two weeks earlier, it was Gasly himself that was the culprit for impeding twice during Qualifying, with the Frenchman earning a pair of three-place penalties for his troubles.

Sainz was handed a three-place grid of his own for his impeding, but his lap time was good enough to advance, and he ultimately made it into the top ten shootout.  However, Gasly says the three-place penalty was not big enough for blocking someone in Q1 if the driver then goes on to start inside the top ten.