Yahoo Autos FIA dismisses da Costa’s appeal against Misano disqualification
The appeal against Antonio Felix da Costa’s disqualification from the first race of the Misano E-Prix has been dismissed.
The TAG Heuer Porsche driver won on the road in Italy, but was later stripped of the victory after it was found that the throttle damper spring fitted to his Porsche 99X Electric did not conform with regulations.
The team said that it had run the part since last season – when it claimed it had been a listed component – and that it had been removed from this years’ rulebook without notification, but had not been met with objection at any FIA technical inspection up to that point.
However, at the FIA’s International Court of Appeal on Tuesday, the FIA explained that the option of three springs allowed for the current season – Season 10 – were also the only ones allowed for last season as well, and that the part in question “was never a usable spring for the Gen3 cars newly homologated at the end of 2022, and the fact that the Appellant had, as it claims, used this spring throughout Formula E Season 9 as well as part of Season 10, was not in line with the applicable regulations.”
Additionally, the FIA said that a homologation session in which Porsche claims the part was approved, only concerned the ‘manufacturer’s Perimeter’, which the spring was not a part of.
“After having thoroughly studied the homologation form of 12 December 2022, the Court notes that the disputed spring is not only not part of the Manufacturer’s Perimeter that is the subject of the homologation check carried out on 12 December 2022, but that it is not even mentioned in the homologation documents issued as part of this check,” the decision from the FIA ICA read.
“The Court therefore concludes that the disputed spring, or any other spring for that matter, was not homologated on 12 December 2022. The Appellant cannot therefore rely on this to argue that the disputed spring complies with the applicable regulations.
“The Court also notes that the Appellant does not provide any evidence that would demonstrate that the disputed spring was subject to a special control after 12 December 2022 and had been in some way approved a posteriori by the FIA’s technical staff. Assuming that this argument could have been relevant, it must therefore be rejected.”
The decision to reject Porsche’s appeal means that da Costa remains seventh in the points. da Costa’s teammate Pascal Wehrlein went on to win the second Misano race the following day, with da Costa taking victory in two of the last three races – the second Berlin race and the second Shanghai race. Overturning the disqualification would have made da Costa the only three-time winner this season, but would have only moved him up one spot in the standings.
