The German brand, Porsche, has withdrawn its appeal against the disqualification of the driver Pascal Wehrlein from the first race in Puebla, in which he achieved the first victory of the squad in Formula E.
In practice, Wehrlein was the first to cross the finish line of the track in Mexico with a display on how to control pole position. However, shortly after the checkered flag, both Porsches along with Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland’s Nissans were excluded from the results, giving di Grassi his first Formula E victory in two years.
The series described that both Porsche and Nissan did not declare the assignment of their tires in their technical passports, which prevented the official supplier Michelin from “performing the necessary pressure management checks”.
Formula E co-founder Alejandro Agag spoke about the result of the race and said he was “so angry” with the penalty that he made him “want to kill someone.”
Porsche tried to appeal against the disqualification, noting that the sanction was “too harsh” on the grounds that the German team did not gain any performance advantage as a result of the “non-declaration”.
However, nine days after the Puebla race, Porsche has decided to withdraw its appeal against disqualification, although it does not agree with the measure.
“We remain firmly convinced that the penalty does not fit the offense and it still really hurts that we were denied our first Formula E victory at the Puebla E-Prix,” the statement from Porsche said.
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The Germans indicated that they will continue to work hard, learning from their mistakes to improve in the category. In that sense, the firm expects the same approach from Formula E and the Federation Internationale de l’Automobile (FIA).
“For Porsche, it is important to identify further potential in the championship and to support Formula E with the goal of providing great motor racing – particularly for the fans. It is not in our interest to get involved in a protracted process and thus do damage to Formula E and the corresponding environment,” he said.
It should be noted that Wehrlein was also penalized for improper use of the fanboost system by activating the short burst of power too late when it did not have enough usable power left to reach the minimum level of 240 kW, as prescribed in article 37.4 of the sporting regulations.
Written by | Gabriel Sayago
