Formula E is gearing up for a ninth visit to the United States of America, this time at Portland International Raceway for the very first time as the championship makes a move to Oregon after five prior trips to Brooklyn’s Red Hook neighbourhood and the Brooklyn Street Circuit in New York City.
Formula E has raced in America every single season other than the pandemic affected Season 6, and the Southwire Portland E-Prix represents the latest venue in the series' storied American history.
WATCH: Don't miss a minute of Round 12 from Portland
From Miami to Long Beach to New York City, Formula E has introduced world class electric racing to all corners of the country. Heading to eco-friendly Portland in the Pacific Northwest, the championship is set to introduce a whole new set of potential fans to the the leading global electric racing series, as well as its drive for clean, sustainable EV tech.
Last time out...
One man found himself at the top of every timed session in Jakarta: Maserati MSG Racing's Maximilian Guenther. The German driver clicked instantly with the circuit and dominated the timed sessions on the way to his first pole in Formula E on the way to third in Round 10.
READ MORE: How Guenther and Maserati warned they can be a real force
He doubled up with a second pole in as many days and converted an historic race win on Sunday - becoming the only driver to win from pole in the past 14 races to seal the first victory for Maserati in a world championship single seater race since the legendary Juan Manuel Fangio won at the Nurburgring all the way back in 1957.
As it stands...
The fight for World Championship honours, meanwhile, is looking to be a five-horse race between three marques, five teams and as many drivers with TAG Heuer Porsche's Pascal Wehrlein heading Jake Dennis in the Avalanche Andretti Porsche 99X Electric GEN3 by just a solitary point.
Long-time standings leader Wehrlein had lost top spot in the table in Monaco but stamped his authority on proceedings with a controlled Round 10 victory, leading home his closest rival Dennis. That was an important result for the young German. Since his previous win in Diriyah, he'd failed to make the podium while Nick Cassidy hit a rich run of form - eventually overcoming the German in the standings with his win in Monaco.
READ MORE: What we learned over the Jakarta double-header
Dennis in the Andretti will have the home crowd on his side in America and has been going about his business quietly and, importantly, consistently - key in any Formula E title challenge. The Brit now has four podiums on the spin and seven total in Season 9 - he is breathing right down Werhlein's neck.
Cassidy now finds himself third in the Drivers' World Championship for Envision Racing, with the customer Jaguar team ahead of the factory Jaguar TCS Racing of Mitch Evans. The former endured an all-but disastrous weekend in Indonesia after back-to-back wins in the Principality and Berlin just weeks before. He's still only six points back but a seven-point haul with more than 50 on offer in Jakarta handed the advantage back to his rivals.
Double champion Jean-Eric Vergne (DS PENSKE) has kept himself in-touch and sits fifth, 37 points from the top. The Frenchman was a winner in Hyderabad and will be looking to close the gap to the top as the season heads towards its climax.
New location, new track
The Portland International Raceway plays host to the inaugural Southwire Portland E-Prix. The permanent circuit is a familiar stop for American motorsport series such as IndyCar, and the layout has a history of providing some close battles. In 1997, the premier American single-seater series saw the closest three-way finish on a road course as Mark Blundell bested Gil de Ferran and Raul Boesel by half a tenth of a second.
The Raceway officially came into being back in the 1970s after several decades as a ruins. That's right: the track originated after a massive flood wiped out an entire town, leaving behind nothing but roads that could be used as a racetrack during Portland's iconic Rose Festival.
The track became a home for professional motorsport in 1975 when the Trans-Am Series began competing at the track, and in the decades that followed, IndyCar and the NASCAR Truck Series followed suit. The track saw a significant slowdown in competition during the 2000s and 2010s, but it has been revived as a coveted racing venue for IndyCar and the NASCAR Xfinity Series in the past few years. Now, Formula E is set to join the long list of prestigious series to hit PIR's pavement, and the series is ready to make history as the track's first all-electric race.
The track's one of the longest Formula E will have raced on at 3.190km and 12 turns and teams are predicting it to be fast and flowing with slipstream set to play a big part - as it did in Jakarta. A good omen for the Porsche and Stellantis-powered cars? We'll see.
Watch
Action gets underway with Free Practice 1 on Friday from 17:00 local time, with Free Practice 2 from 10:30 on Saturday 24 June. Qualifying follows at 12:40 and Round 12 itself starts at 17:00.
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