Nick Cassidy won for the first time in Formula E after hitting the wall - and being followed by almost half the grid. After the race, the New Zealander showed relief at the decision to end the race
Formula E faced heavy rain in a championship race for the first time in the 2022 season, and the balance was negative: a big accident, with several cars stuck, which ended the race in its final stretch. Nick Cassidy, who was leading the race at the time, was declared the winner after the race and didn't hide his excitement after experiencing completely different situations within the same stage.
"It was a roller coaster of emotions, everything happened. I was very calm after everything happened, but obviously I felt very disappointed at first," Cassidy explained. "It seemed like it [the win] was guaranteed with ten minutes to go, then it started raining," said the Envision driver, who secured his first Formula E victory.
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The Envision driver was the first to hit the wall, already on the final straight, but was followed by Stoffel Vandoorne, Lucas Di Grassi, and several others, who also failed to hold the car at the same point on the track. Besides the crash that left several cars on the wall, Edoardo Mortara, Pascal Wehrlein, Sébastien Buemi and other drivers also crashed after suffering from aquaplaning.
However, the decision to declare the then-leader the race winner took a long time - as has been common in the current season - and Cassidy lived a real suspense until the confirmation - even because the first indications from race management were to restart the race with the remaining cars, an idea that was discarded soon after due to the difficulty of fixing the track and the return of rain.
"I am super happy with the win, I was shouting in the garage: 'are you sure, are you sure? "I don't want to talk about the decision-making process and everything, but in terms of the race, the team did a fantastic job. In the end, I think it was the right decision [to close the race]," he added.
The Formula E weekend in New York continues on Sunday, with race 2 scheduled to take place at 2 pm (EST), with live broadcast on TV Cultura.