Antonio Felix Da Costa headed the final practice session before qualifying for the 2024 Portland E-Prix which saw a mix of incidents and competitive lap times, setting the stage for an exciting qualifying session.
The session started with drama as Mitch Evans experienced an early mishap, travelling through the grass on his opening lap. Despite the off-track excursion, Evans managed to return to the track and continued his session, eventually finishing 12th fastest for Jaguar.
A more significant incident came from Sacha Fenestraz, who caused a red flag after going off at Turns 10 and 11. The Nissan driver lost control in the middle of the corner, spinning into the barrier and making contact with both the front and rear of his car. The crash resulted in the loss of his front wing and damage to his front-right suspension, leaving the French-Argentine driver 22nd at the end of the session.
Nyck De Vries also had a moment at the final corner of Turn 12. The Mahindra driver dipped a wheel onto the grass and ran off track but managed to stop the car and continued without further incident, ultimately finishing 17th.
Antonio Felix Da Costa of Porsche set the pace, clocking the fastest time of the session with a 1:08.787. Norman Nato, who was the quickest in the first free practice session on Friday, continued his strong form, setting a 1:08.913 to secure second place for Andretti. Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy was third fastest with a time of 1:09.016.
Reigning champion Jake Dennis was fourth in the second Andretti, while Nissan’s Caio Collet impressed on his debut weekend by finishing fifth fastest. Dan Ticktum was sixth for ERT, ahead of the Envision Racing pair of Sebastien Buemi and Robin Frijns, who were seventh and eighth respectively.
Pascal Wehrlein of Porsche was ninth quickest, with Sam Bird rounding out the top ten for Mclaren.. Nico Muller was 11th for ABT, followed by Mitch Evans in 12th for Jaguar. Sergio Sette Camara finished 13th for ERT.
Edoardo Mortara was 14th for Mahindra, while Lucas Di Grassi took 15th for ABT. Jake Hughes ended the session 16th, ahead of Nyck De Vries in 17th and Maserati’s Maximilian Gunther in 18th.
Stoffel Vandoorne was 19th for DS Penske, followed by Jehan Daruvala in 20th for Maserati. Jean-Eric Vergne was 21st in the second DS Penske, with Sacha Fenestraz rounding out the timings in 22nd after his crash.
