ROME, Italy — Jaguar TCS Racing’s Mitch Evans claimed back-to-back victories in the Rome E-Prix after a dramatic last-lap dash for the win.
The Kiwi driver led Poleman Jean-Éric Vergne in second and Envision Racing’s Robin Frijns in third.
Starting off the race, DS TECHEETAH’s Jean-Eric Vergne pulled away in first while his former teammate and TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team driver André Lotterer passed Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis into second. By the top of the hill and Turn 7, Dennis had reclaimed second, dropping Lotterer back down to third. With a collision between Mahindra Racing’s Alex Sims and Nissan e.dams’ Max Guenther, the German driver retired to the pits, ending his race within five minutes. Despite setting the fastest lap in Qualifying earlier in the day, Jake Dennis started losing ground after Lotterer attacked at turn 7, reclaiming second. Shortly after, yesterday’s race winner Mitch Evans slipped past into third. Standings leader and ROKiT Venturi Racing driver Edoardo Mortara tried to pass DS TECHEETAH’s Antonio Felix da Costa, with the Portuguese racer closing the door on the Swiss, damaging the front wing of his car. Mortara then clipped the wall in turn 19 and coasted to safety, retiring from the race with a suspected driveshaft failure.Home race hero Antionio Giovinazzi stopped on track between turn 8 and 9, ending his day. With 24 minutes left on the clock, the safety car was brought in and the racing continued. Poleman Vergne led Evans for less than a lap before the opportunistic Evans overtook into turn 4 to take the lead. Evans continued to lead Vergne, with Porsche’s Lotterer in second and Envision’s Robin Frijns in third. Enjoying the benefit of the extra power gained through his eight-minute Attack Mode, Robin Frijns made his way up the order and passed race leader Evans up the hill in turn 7. Paying the price for closing the door earlier on Mortara, da Costa received a five minute time penalty while back at the front, Lotterer was looking to take the lead with extra power gained through Attack Mode. Now in second, the German driver was close on the tail of Frijns who was desperately trying to hold on to the lead. With seconds of his Attack Mode power left, Lotterer made his move on Frijns to take the lead into turn 4. Now setting the pace, the German driver was closing in on his first victory in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with 10 minutes left on the clock. After a short caution period while Sims’ Mahindra car was recovered in a spin in turn 14, the racing was back under way with 5 minutes 15 seconds of extended time.Saving his Attack Mode until the end of the race, Evans used the boost with less than eight minutes of the race remaining. With extra power, Evans went after Lotterer, hunting the German driver before taking the lead on the hill up in turn 7. With Evans holding firm, Vergne slipped past his former teammate Lotterer, jumping to second, before Frijns made a move on the German to knock him off the podium and into fourth. With Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy in the wall at the top of Turn 7, the safety car made a brief appearance before coming in to leave a last lap dash for the finish.
With Evans out in front and Vergne close behind, the Frenchman was on the attack to regain his lead. Unable to catch Evans, the Jaguar driver crossed the line victorious, once again, for the second time in the Rome double-header. “It feels like déjà vu” Evans said after the race. “This is a result of pure graft, hard work. I just want to thank everyone at the team because the last eight weeks have been insane with the amount of work that has gone in. I didn’t know if we could manage two – double-headers are tricky to back up – but we showed good quality. The race was a carbon copy from yesterday, the car was working perfectly. It was trickier today because of the temperature and the longer Attack Mode, I almost got caught out with that during the safety car, but a huge thanks to everyone on the team and hopefully this isn’t just a one-off but it feels good.”
Keyword: Evans Goes Back to Back At Formula Rome EPrix