Cassidy: Third 'brings a smile' but believes race win was on the cards

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Cassidy: Third 'brings a smile' but believes race win was on the cards

Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy might have achieved back-to-back top-three finishes, but he thinks there was a real chance he could have won the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix.

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Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy once again found himself on the podium after back-to-back top-three finishes in Hyderabad and Cape Town. However, the Kiwi racing driver believed there was a real chance he could have left South Africa as Formula E's latest winner. 

After making it through to the Duels for the first time this season, Cassidy lined up third on the starting grid for the inaugural Cape Town E-Prix. Getting a good start, he hung on towards the front of the pack. Once the top two, Nissan's Sacha Fenestraz and second place Maserati MSG Racing's Maximilian Guenther, took ATTACK MODE, Cassidy led a race for the first time in the exciting new GEN3 era. 

cassidy leads fenestraz cape town

"Got to walk away with a smile," Cassidy said after the E-Prix, won by TAG Heuer Porsche's Antonio Felix da Costa in an outrageous last-lap overtake. "Whenever you get third in Formula E, it's a good day."

Nevertheless, Cassidy believed there was a chance for a first-place finish. When leading the race, with over half of the distance complete, Guenther made contact with the wall and was forced to stop with suspension damage to his Maserati. Cassidy took his final ATTACK MODE just beforehand, but a full course yellow was deployed for Guenther's broken Maserati and limited Cassidy's use of the power boost. 

"Ultimately, part of me feels like we should have won that race," the Envision driver continued.

"We had a few issues we were battling, and the full course yellow really hurt us as well. That is the luck of the draw and how that changes the energy of the race, but that's motorsport, and I have got to be happy with third."

Not going into detail about the problems that plagued his race, Cassidy also got into a last-lap tangle with the Julius Baer Pole Position holder, Fenestraz. The two drivers, fighting for the final podium spot, clashed just moments away from the chequered flag, with Fenestraz making contact with the wall and, as a result, classified last. 

Cassidy took third place and secured his sixth Formula E podium since his debut in the 2021 Diriyah E-Prix.