Nick Cassidy says that he and Antonio Felix da Costa “simply cried collectively” after their collision within the Components E London season finale which denied the Jaguar driver the title.
Da Costa’s Porsche team-mate Pascal Wehrlein claimed this yr’s Components E drivers’ title because the German, Cassidy and the second Jaguar of Mitch Evans entered Sunday’s London E-Prix lined by simply 4 factors.
Cassidy had began on pole and sat third through the center portion of the race, however in prime place to cycle again to the entrance having taken each his Assault Mode activations compared with Evans and Wehrlein forward.
However his title aspirations had been shattered when 2019-20 Components E champion da Costa made contact with the right-rear tyre of Cassidy’s automotive, which brought about a puncture and his eventual retirement.
“He’s [da Costa] a terrific good friend, he’s a world champion, I’m not,” Cassidy informed Motorsport.com.
“We simply cried collectively. He’s price me a world championship nevertheless it wasn’t intentional, I do know that, it’s only a mistake on his behalf. Huge penalties for me.”
Da Costa began tenth for the race and was transferring in the direction of the entrance of the sector in an effort to assist Wehrlein’s championship bid.
Nick Cassidy, Jaguar TCS Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 6, retires the automotive
Photograph by: Alastair Staley / Motorsport Photographs
Operating in fifth behind Nissan’s Oliver Rowland, who finally gained the race from Wehrlein, da Costa went for an overtake on the Briton up the within into Flip 16 earlier than gathering the helpless Cassidy forward on the apex of the bend.
After the race, TV photos confirmed the pair embraced with da Costa apologetic for his half in deciding the end result of the drivers’ championship in such a way.
“I really feel horrible, as a result of I’m blissful to play a job as a team-mate to Pascal to assist him with Assault Modes and affect the end in that approach, however by no means on this approach,” da Costa informed Motorsport.com.
“It feels horrible, not solely of the motion itself but additionally of the consequence that it needed to him [Cassidy] as a result of he had each his Assault Modes [done], it was simply wanting nice for him.
“I can solely say an enormous sorry to him and his household, his crew.
“It was a minimal contact which was sufficient to finish in catastrophe for him and for that I’m actually, actually sorry.”
Da Costa was handed a five-second penalty for the collision, dropping the Portuguese driver from fifth right down to thirteenth within the ultimate classification.
This had a major bearing on the new-for-2024 producers’ championship and meant Jaguar took the accolade over Porsche by 4 factors, having simply secured the groups’ championship by the more healthy margin of 36 factors.
