The contact that ended Antonio Felix da Costa’s possibilities of a valedictory podium in his remaining System E race for DS Techeetah break up opinion between him and Jake Dennis after Sunday’s season finale in Seoul.
Da Costa was utilizing assault mode for the second time when he received a run on then second-placed Dennis’s Andretti BMW as they approached the ultimate nook.
Whereas Dennis defended the within, da Costa opted for a transfer across the exterior and was virtually totally handed. However Dennis stored his inside trajectory as da Costa turned in, with the right-rear wheel hitting Dennis’s front-left.
.@afelixdacosta goes for a transfer on @JakeDennis19 nevertheless it does not pan out!
The pair make contact and the @DSTECHEETAH driver rejoins the pack in P16…
LIVE timing 👉 https://t.co/KK5UJiyiRE
🇰🇷 2022 Hana Financial institution #SeoulEPrix pic.twitter.com/FwtoRNssEl
— ABB FIA System E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) August 14, 2022
It was sufficient to ship da Costa gently into the Tecpro barrier and pinballed him all the best way down the order to final place. Dennis was apportioned blame by the stewards and given a five-second time penalty for the shunt.
Dennis mentioned on the time that he was “very happy to offer him the nook” however that da Costa “simply left me no area”.
His opinion didn’t change an enormous quantity with time, telling The Race that he was “simply the harmless occasion on the within”.
Dennis added: “Clearly we each tried to keep away from contact however there’s solely to date I can go to the precise earlier than I hit the wall.
“I did the utmost I may, it wasn’t sufficient, and I’m shocked they gave me the penalty. Communicate to everybody else and so they mentioned they don’t assume I deserved it. I didn’t assume I deserved it however, however, we pushed on.”
He was in a position to salvage a podium with a sensational finish to the race during which created simply sufficient of a buffer to clear the Envision Audi of Robin Frijns, who had thermal temperature troubles, by 0.372s to clinch third.
However polesitter da Costa, who relinquished the result in eventual winner Edoardo Mortara, was left to rue an incident that in his thoughts price him a farewell podium earlier than his transfer to Porsche.
“I made a decision to undercut him on the assault mode, the plan went to perfection,” da Costa advised The Race.
“I received the run on him into the final nook and I believe 99% of the transfer was achieved, I wanted him to deal with that 1%, it’s an extended race and there’s no want to enter contact.
“He [Dennis] would have nonetheless had his assault mode to take and he would have in all probability come again to me. It’s only a disgrace that he couldn’t do extra to keep away from that contact.
“I do know he too is in a tough place however I consider that if he needed he may have prevented it, and clearly it ruins my day fully.”
The 2019-20 champion, who misplaced a possible three positions within the championship – who was on the right track for fifth however dropped to eighth – due to the accident, reckoned that the penalty “was justified, as a result of as I mentioned, in a good monitor like this when there is just one racing line we want each vehicles to manage”.
“I had been overtaken by Mortara, I needed to let him go and that made me lose a spot to Jake as nicely,” mentioned da Costa, who was labeled tenth.
“It’s essential assume long-term; why compromise your race with a lot nonetheless to go? And I really feel like he may have achieved extra, and it didn’t actually have an effect on him as a result of he was nonetheless on the rostrum.”
Da Costa admitted that the ultimate race of the season had been “an emotional day for me as a result of these guys allowed me to take the following step on the ranks as a racing driver having gained a championship” and cited different wins in Monaco in 2021 and New York final month as highlights.
Dennis in the meantime savoured his third podium go to in 4 races, which elevated him from twelfth within the desk after New York a month in the past to sixth within the remaining standings.
His factors, allied to Oliver Askew’s fifth-place end, ensured that Andretti leapfrogged its future automobile provider Porsche to take sixth place within the groups’ standings. The American outfit outscored Porsche by 101 factors to eight within the remaining 4 races.
“Within the final quarter of the season we’ve been one of many highest scorers,” mentioned Dennis.
“So, it was simply spherical two [in Mexico] to mid-season the place we misplaced quite a bit, a great 60/70 factors within the championship.
“However we turned it round ultimately.
“We had a very robust package deal in direction of the tip of the season and we maximised that; didn’t make any errors and we achieved all of the factors attainable.”