Maserati MSG Racing brought home a sixth-place finish at the inaugural Portland E-Prix to score eight points as Formula E went Stateside to contest a tactical showdown at the Oregon-based circuit.
The pace of the Maserati Tipo Folgore was evident from the weekend’s outset as drivers Edoardo Mortara and Maximilian Günther built positive momentum throughout practice.
Although Edo narrowly missed out on the duel stages of qualifying, Max advanced to the head-to-heads and continued to maintain his form from a dominant performance at the Jakarta E-Prix earlier in June.
The young German set the second-fastest time in Group A, but despite losing out in his Quarter-Final run, still started inside the top five while Edo lined up in ninth.
Given Portland’s energy sensitive layout, energy management was a key factor throughout the race, and a peloton-style battle raged from start to finish.
Remaining in the slipstream to save energy throughout was crucial, and after losing some ground at the start, Edo and Max settled into a consistent running rhythm during the opening phase.
A Safety Car on lap five, caused by a stoppage for Roberto Merhi, paused proceedings briefly and after resuming on lap seven, an accident for Nico Müller led to another neutralisation on lap 10.
When the race resumed on lap 17, Edo and Max were both in contention for podium places but took advantage of the restart to activate their final use of Attack Mode at the expense of track position.
The duo quickly rallied their efforts, however, with Max rising back to the front of the field to hold third, hot in pursuit in the fight for the lead.
Unfortunately, the 25-year-old was pushed off track by Jaguar’s Sam Bird which ended his hopes of silverware.
Edo, meanwhile, held a competitive sixth but was forced to retire after sustaining a puncture following contact with Max on lap 31 during the race’s added time phase.
Max took the chequered flag in sixth to score eight points and further consolidate Maserati MSG Racing’s position in the World Teams’ Championship.
Formula E’s ninth season will continue on 15-16 July for the Rome E-Prix and the penultimate race weekend of the current campaign.
In Their Words
James Rossiter, Team Principal, Maserati MSG Racing
“Unfortunately, we’re left to leave Portland with mixed emotions. On one hand, it was good to bring home another good haul of points, but on the other, deeply frustrating to miss out on what could have been a strong result for both of our cars. We saw the peloton style of racing reach a new level today, and our engineers pulled together an incredible strategy to put our drivers in the right position on track when it mattered. Unfortunately, Max made contact with Edo’s right-rear tyre to cause a puncture during the final laps – a small mistake with points implications. We’re continuing to head in a positive direction, and hopefully, we’ll be able to achieve strong results with both cars at the next race in Rome.”
Edoardo Mortara, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
“Today’s race didn’t go well, and it’s a tough one to swallow. Although qualifying didn’t go our way, there were still lots of opportunities because of the style of racing. Our aim was to be in a strong position heading into the final three laps, and we executed a good strategy to build an energy advantage of around one or two percent over our nearest competitors. During the last laps, Max tried to overtake me in Turn 10, his wing cut my right-rear tyre and I was forced to retire with a puncture. At this point I was sixth, and I know there could have been more.”
Maximilian Günther, Driver, Maserati MSG Racing
“A good weekend for us. We were performing well across all sessions and put us in a great position with P5 in Qualifying. We were driving an intelligent race and we were in a strong position in P4 until a few laps to go. Unfortunately, a rival put me on the grass which made me lose some positions and put me on the back foot. I was in P9 but had good energy and good pace at the end, so I was able to recover some places to finish P6 – a good position with good points.”
Giovanni Sgro, Head of Maserati Corse
“It was a hard-fought race today, and it was great to see both drivers running inside the top five throughout. Max’s sixth place finish brought home some crucial World Championship points, and Edo was running very well before his puncture. We need to maintain our momentum from Jakarta to the next race in Rome, which will be Maserati’s home race.”
