António Félix da Costa is facing a difficult start to Season 10 in the Formula E World Championship. The Porsche driver, in qualifying for round 2 of the championship, the Diriyah ePrix in Saudi Arabia, could not do better than 9th position in Group B, which puts him in 20th on the starting grid for the race with 37 laps at the Riyadh Street Circuit, which is scheduled to start at 17:04 Portugal Continental time.
Félix da Costa, in Saudi Arabia, where he won in 2018, on the Formula E’s first visit to the kingdom, is looking to score his first points of 2024, after retiring in the Mexico City ePrix, at the start of the season. However, knowing the importance of qualifying, he faces a difficult mission ahead, but not impossible, especially considering the highly competitive electric car (9XX Electric) he has.
Frenchman Jean-Éric Vergne, from DS Penske, was the fastest in qualifying and equalled the record of 16 pole positions in the category previously held by Swiss driver Sébastien Buemi (Envision). Currently, this former F1 driver (represented Toro Rosso in 58 Grand Prix races from 2012 to 2014) also races for Peugeot in the World Endurance Championship (WEC) and is the only driver with two titles in this category – he won them in Seasons 4 and 5.
Pascal Wehrlein, Félix da Costa’s teammate at Porsche, who won in Mexico and is the championship leader, qualified in 6th position. In 2023, the German driver won both races held in Diriyah, a city on the outskirts of the Saudi capital classified as a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The races in Saudi Arabia are held at night, therefore under artificial light.
