Porsche lodges appeal against da Costa's London E-Prix time penalty

The 2019-20 Formula E champion had finished second on-the-road in the first of two races at the ExCeL London, having climbed from 17th on the grid.

But his Porsche team were informed just before the end of the race that he had been handed a three-minute penalty due to a technical infringement.

This was deemed to be because ‘the minimum tyre pressure was under the minimum value given by the tyre supplier’ according to the stewards.

After the race, da Costa claimed this was due to a slow puncture that he had picked up because of debris, and slammed the officials as "not good enough".

Porsche lodged an intent to appeal immediately after the race, giving it 96 hours to file a formal protest which was done on Thursday.

A Porsche statement read: “Today, we can confirm that the official appeal against decision no.10 was filed within the notice period.

“Antonio suffered a slow puncture due to debris on the track, which meant that the pressure from his front right tyre fell below the prescribed minimum.

“The damage occurred due to an external impact, it was not our fault. For us, this decision is incomprehensible and unacceptable.

“Our primary concern is a fair equal treatment in the spirit of the sport.

“Due to the ongoing proceedings, we will not make any further statements on this incident until a final decision by the ICA (International Court of Appeal) has been reached.”

If Porsche was successful in overturning the decision, it would mean the German manufacturer would finish ahead of customer team Andretti Autosport in the teams’ standings, moving up from fourth to third.

Da Costa would also move up in the drivers’ standings from his current position of ninth into fifth.