Nick Cassidy was “proud” of himself for having won the 2022/23 Formula E season finale, following a sleepless night after his opening day disappointment in London.
Cassidy ended the Formula E season perfectly at the ExCeL Centre on Sunday, by bouncing back from his heartbreaking retirement in the first race of the double-header finale.
The Kiwi entered the London E-Prix as Jake Dennis’ main rival in the Drivers’ Championship, and started the weekend emphatically. He progressed to the final of the duels ahead of race one and ultimately inherited pole position from Mitch Evans, who had a five-place grid penalty.
Cassidy started the race flawlessly and led with conviction; however, his race and his title chances fell to pieces after activating his second Attack Mode. After activating his final Attack Mode, the New Zealander found himself directly ahead of Dennis but behind team-mate Sébastian Buemi.
Buemi was shouting over the radio to Envision Racing asking for instructions, with the Swiss driver having been keen to support his team-mate. Envision buckled under the pressure and failed to give Buemi and Cassidy accurate orders, resulting in Cassidy trying to overtake Buemi himself.
Cassidy was on the outside of Buemi at Turn 3 when contact was made between the pair, destroying his front wing and title chances. He was forced to immediately pit for repairs, before retiring from the race moments later.
Envision’s embarrassing blunder handed Dennis the title, and damaged their own chances in the Constructors’ Championship. The Silverstone-based side lost their entire lead in the standings, and entered the final day of the season level on points with Jaguar TCS Racing.
Cassidy was visibly dejected after the race and admitted that he struggled to sleep as a result, following his “difficult day”.
He arrived back to the circuit for the second race of the double-header keen to do the “business” though, and claim the Teams’ title for Envision before moving to Jaguar for 2024.
Remarkably, Cassidy claimed his first outright pole position of the season ahead of the finale, giving Envision a three-point lead heading into the last race of 2023. The conditions for the final race couldn’t have been any worse, as a series of heavy downpours resulted in two early red flags.
Due to the weather and the track conditions, the season finale featured two lengthy stoppages, with a combined delay time of 1h 10m. When the race did finally get properly underway, Cassidy was untouchable.
His experience racing in Japan in the Super Formula series helped him massively in the treacherous conditions, as he stormed to victory by over three seconds ahead of Evans. The leading duo were over 10 seconds ahead of Dennis in third, highlighting their superiority.
The result, most importantly, secured Envision their first championship in Formula E and saw Cassidy end the year second in the Drivers’ Championship.
He was “super super happy” to have done the job and to have secured Envision the championship, with the 28-year-old having hailed the side as an “incredible bunch of people”.
“It’s mixed emotions but ultimately I’m very happy because today was a difficult day for me mostly because I didn’t sleep well last night, I arrived late – but I did the business so I’m proud. The team have been absolutely incredible,” said Cassidy.
“They’re an incredible bunch of people and they work so hard. Of course every team does but these guys have been close on so many occasions and I think that just shows how strong they have been in this championship, and to finally get it done for them I am super super happy.”
