The disqualification of Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche) in Misano continues to concern Formula E around a month later. The date for the court hearing has now been set: According to information from Motorsport-Magazin.com The case will be heard on June 7, 2024 from 9:00 a.m. before the International Court of Appeal at the FIA headquarters in Paris at Place de la Concorde. Felix da Costa was disqualified after his victory on Saturday in Misano around five hours after the end of the race.
That’s why Felix da Costa was disqualified
Four days after the disqualification, Porsche lodged a written appeal with the FIA against Felix da Costa’s exclusion from the classification on April 17, 2024. The race result and the current championship standings remain provisional until the process is completed.
The FIA stewards’ decision was based on a spring on the power pedal of Felix da Costa’s car, which comes from standard component manufacturer Spark Racing Technology. However, this had not been on the Spark parts list for some time and therefore should not have been installed in the Porsche racing car.
Porsche and Spark in contradiction
“We had an accelerator pedal spring in the car that was put into a standard component catalog at the beginning of Gen3 because new springs that were intended for the Gen3 car were not yet available from the standard component manufacturer,” said Porsche team boss Florian Modlinger a few days after the disqualification opposite Motorsport-Magazin.com exclusively explained.
Porsche’s astonishment at the scenario was already evident in the stewards’ justification for their verdict. Team manager James Lindesay argued that changes in the approximately 100-page Spark catalog are usually highlighted so that everyone can see the changes. However, Spark delegates Jeremy Boudot and Pierre Prunin contradicted this representation, according to the sports commissioners’ letter.
“Whenever something is changed to the components or there are enough changes, a new version is issued by the standard component manufacturer. And there, when something is added or parts are changed, the changes are deposited and marked in yellow,” said Modlinger, describing Porsche’s presentation affirmed.
Wehrlein stands behind Felix da Costa
Felix da Costa’s Porsche teammate Pascal Wehrlein also spoke exclusively to Motorsport-Magazin a few days after the disqualification behind his stablemate – and demanded a less strict punishment: “There are options (of punishment; editor), but a disqualification is just so final. You have ruined your entire day.”
The disqualification also had a significant impact on the extremely close World Cup fight this season. After 10 of 16 races this season, Porsche is in second place in the team world championship, 54 points behind the Jaguar factory team. If da Costa’s disqualification is reversed, this gap would be almost halved. In the drivers’ standings, Felix da Costa would be two positions further up in sixth place, but still 56 points behind championship leader Nick Cassidy.