Evans nails Brazil ABB FE event

Jaguar TCS Racing Kiwi driver Mitch Evans won the Sao Paulo E-Prix, with Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy (also in a Jaguar) of New Zealand second and Evans’ team-mate Sam Bird third.

“This has come at the perfect time,” says Evans.

“We had a tough start but the car has been quick so to finally get the victory and some points is incredible.

“A Jaguar 1-2-3. Nick pushed me all the way – we pushed each other – both teams executed brilliantly.

“I wouldn’t have wanted it much closer than that.

“I had a good energy advantage from quite early on, but it was just about trying to find the right time to use the energy advantage.

“Super happy to get some big points on the board.”

The Jaguar double podium delivers on its early season promise in the ABB FIA Formula E world championship series after the two Jaguar TCS Racing drivers failed in India but delivered redemption in Brazil, says the FIA, adding the event’s debut in Brazil was an “electrifying affair from lights to flag”.

“Evans finally hit the front on lap 21 before conceding the top spot to countryman Cassidy three tours later when he deployed his second Attack Mode,” the FIA explains.

“That gifted his fellow New Zealander what appeared to be a healthy margin – but in Formula E nothing can ever be taken for granted.

“With a handful of laps remaining, Evans started coming back at his Envision rival, whose mirrors were now filled by not just one but two Jaguars – Bird having similarly joined the party. The Briton had initially qualified directly behind his team-mate in fifth, but a grid penalty for the Hyderabad contact relegated him to tenth. He did not let it hold him back.”

After immediately gaining two spots to eighth, Bird made short work of NEOM McLaren Formula E Team duo Jake Hughes and René Rast to infiltrate the top six. Conserving his energy well, the 36-year-old subsequently demoted DS Penske pairing Jean-Éric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne – while benefitting from a mistake by António Félix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche) – to rise to third, at which point he began exploiting his energy advantage to zero in on the two leaders,” says the FIA..

“By lap 32, the trio were running nose-to-tail, but the swift arrival of Bird prompted Evans to turn up the wick, as he dived past Cassidy into Turn One to seize the initiative. In spite of a late counterattack from the Envision driver, last season’s championship runner-up held on to register his seventh career victory and climb into the top 10 in the overall standings – in so doing, putting an emphatic end to his troubled start to the campaign.”

The FIA says the result marked the first double podium finish for New Zealanders in the all-electric single-seater series.

Next up is Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport Street Circuit for a double-header on April 22 and 23, marking the beginning of the European leg of Season 9.