Rome E-Prix: Evans earns Jaguar its first Formula E race victory

    Evans fended off Lotterer to become the 7th different Formula E race winner this season; Mahindra Racing’s d’Ambrosio and Wehrlein finish 8th and 10th, respectively.

    Published On Apr 14, 2019 11:22:00 AM

    5,208 Views

    Mitch Evans helped create history for Jaguar Racing after defeating DS Techeetah driver Andre Lotterer to clinch the team’s first-ever Formula E race win at the Rome E-Prix. This makes Evans the 7th different driver to win a race this season in just as many races – with all the race winners belonging to different teams.

    It was a chaotic start to the race with damp conditions making it tricky for the drivers. Lotterer, who started the race from pole position, managed to make a clean getaway with Evans and Jose Maria Lopez behind him. But, further down the pack, Max Gunther clipped the wall after sliding sideways through Turn 8, his car suffering bodywork damage in the process. Just moments later, Lopez made contact with Sam Bird, seemingly bringing the latter’s race to an end. But miraculously, Bird found the chance to continue on since the race was soon red- flagged after a massive pile up blocked the track.

    Lopez crashed into the wall at the Turn 17/18 chicane, catching out Gary Paffett, Jean-Eric Vergne and some other drivers behind. The lengthy red flag period gave teams the chance to work on their cars, however the incident did bring an end to Paffett’s race.

    Once the race restarted, Evans spent several laps right on Lotterer’s tail. He finally managed to overtake Lotterer with 16 minutes left on the clock, using the Attack Mode to overtake him at Turn 11. Lotterer attempted to move back into the lead by engaging his second Attack Mode, and for a moment, it looked like the race could play into his hands as Evans failed to activate his for a second time. However, the Jaguar Racing driver managed to keep Lotterer at bay, but with his car running out of energy, he had to back off in the final few laps – bringing back memories of his disappointing Rome E-Prix last year, where poor energy management strategy forced him down to the back of the pack from the lead. However, it was a different story this time around, and he ultimately held on to win the race, crossing the finish line with just two percent of usable energy left.

    Vandoorne finished the race in 3rd place for HWA, claiming both his and the team’s first Formula E podium after what has been a challenging start to the season. Robin Frijns took 4th place after using Attack Mode to pull off a late move on Sebastien Buemi. Buemi’s Nissan teammate Oliver Rowland finished just behind him in 6th place, followed by Lucas di Grassi.

    Vergne was handed a drive-through penalty for overtaking Antonio Felix da Costa under a full-course yellow, dropping him down to 14th place, but he did earn a point for setting the fastest lap. This promoted Jerome d’Ambrosio to 8th place, the Mahindra Racing driver managing to climb up the field after starting the race all the way down from 19. This handed him enough points to take the lead in the drivers’ standings once again, albeit by just one point from da Costa, who finished the race in 9th place. Mahindra Racing’s other driver, Pascal Wehrlein rounded up the top 10.  Bird managed to complete the race in 11th place after Virgin Racing was able to repair his car under the red flag.

    Both Venturi drivers – Edoardo Mortara and Felipe Massa – had to retire from the race after suffering transmission problems.

    Race results

    POS

    DRIVER

    TEAM

    CAR

    GAP

    1

    Mitch Evans

    Jaguar

    Jaguar

    1h33m51.140s

    2

    Andre Lotterer

    DS Techeetah

    DS

    0.979s

    3

    Stoffel Vandoorne

    HWA

    Venturi

    6.399s

    4

    Robin Frijns

    Virgin

    Audi

    9.181s

    5

    Sebastien Buemi

    e.dams

    Nissan

    9.778s

    6

    Oliver Rowland

    e.dams

    Nissan

    11.262s

    7

    Lucas di Grassi

    Audi

    Audi

    24.340s

    8

    Jerome d'Ambrosio

    Mahindra

    Mahindra

    28.633s

    9

    Antonio Felix da Costa

    BMW

    BMW

    30.651s

    10

    Pascal Wehrlein

    Mahindra

    Mahindra

    30.735s

    11

    Sam Bird

    Virgin

    Audi

    32.272s

    12

    Alex Lynn

    Jaguar

    Jaguar

    42.238s

    13

    Oliver Turvey

    NIO

    NIO

    48.616s

    14

    Jean-Eric Vergne

    DS Techeetah

    DS

    49.732s

    15

    Tom Dillmann

    NIO

    NIO

    52.253s

    16

    Jose Maria Lopez

    Dragon

    Penske

    1m10.373s

    17

    Alexander Sims

    BMW

    BMW

    1m11.373s

    18

    Daniel Abt

    Audi

    Audi

    1 Lap

    19

    Maximilian Gunther

    Dragon

    Penske

    Not running

    -

    Felipe Massa

    Venturi

    Venturi

    Retirement

    -

    Edoardo Mortara

    Venturi

    Venturi

    Retirement

    -

    Gary Paffett

    HWA

    Venturi

    Retirement

     

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