Evans storms into Formula E title contention with Jakarta win

Kiwi Mitch Evans claimed a stunning victory over the weekend at the ABB FIA Formula E series’ inaugural Jakarta ePrix in Indonesia, consolidating the Jaguar driver’s position in the championship top four.

Leading home title rivals Jean-Eric Vergne and Edoardo Mortara, Evans would become the first driver in the 2021-’22 season to scoop three race victories. With four rounds to go, he sits 12 points adrift of championship leader Stoffel Vandoorne.

Starting from the second row of the grid, Evans skipped by Antonio Felix Da Costa on lap four and then ultimately took the lead from Vergne on lap 32 following a bold dive under brakes approaching Jakarta’s turn seven complex.

The pair spent the bulk of the race duelling on the time sheets; the Kiwi slowly reeling in the leader having made more aggressive strategic use of his car’s ‘attack mode’ allocations.

A late surge in pressure from Vergne wasn’t enough to shake Evans from the podium’s top step. He claimed the win by seven tenths, with Vergne just two tenths in front of Mortara.

Da Costa, Vandoorne, Jake Dennis, Lucas di Grassi, Pascal Wehrlein, Sam Bird, and Sebastien Buemi rounded out the top 10. Fellow New Zealander Nick Cassidy, meanwhile, finished 16th after a challenging weekend.

“It feels amazing to get my third win of the season. Physically today was really quite difficult, the temperature and humidity were both really high, but we managed to get our strategy right for pretty much the whole race,” said Evans.

“The balance of the I-TYPE 5 was incredible, until the last five laps where I started to really struggle with my rear tyres.

“This was challenging as I needed to defend from Jean-Éric Vergne and Edoardo Mortara. Overall, the team delivered another amazing race for me and I’m really looking forward to Marrakech.”

 “It was incredibly close racing all the way through and required cool heads and a well-executed race and that is exactly what Mitch and the team delivered, I am very proud of everyone,” added Jaguar TCS Racing team principal James Barclay.

The tight, new Jakarta street circuit got the seal of approval from drivers across the paddock at the end of the weekend, with some praising the way the race surface evolved over time and how that interplayed with the category’s tyre compound.

The series now prepares to travel to Morocco for next month’s Marrakech ePrix on July 2.