ROME — Mitch Evans conquered Rome for the third time in succession on Saturday, overcoming scorching heat and a high-speed multi-car crash early in the race that dented the world championship ambitions of Jake Dennis.
He finished off the podium in fourth, losing his lead in the standings to second-place driver Nick Cassidy.
“It was almost two races that we had today,” Evans said. “First of all it was good to see everyone was fine after that shunt, it was pretty big and obviously Sam had a pretty scary moment, so good to see everyone is fine. After that I was a little bit down on energy compared to Nick and Jake, so I had to try and equalize that, the energy targets dropped a lot after the safety car, so it became much more of an energy race than we were expecting.
“But I managed it well, and the team helped guide me through like always, and then leave the rest for me.”
High drama unfolded on lap nine at the quickest part of the track where multiple cars were caught up in a shunt. Fortunately, there were no injuries in the incident which began with Evans’ teammate Sam Bird losing the rear of his Jaguar over the tricky, rapid and undulating section between turns six and seven.
Sébastien Buemi clipped back end of the Jaguar on his way through as the Swiss narrowly missed a square-on impact, though Buemi still suffered severe and race-ending damage to his car.
Edoardo Mortara flew into the side of Bird’s I-TYPE 6 as it sat stricken in the middle of the circuit while several other drivers picked their way through and escaped with minor damage including championship contender Pascal Wehrlein.
That meant big ramifications for the teams and drivers as well as the potential final destination of the title even though standings leader Dennis himself avoided a race-ending smash by inches.
Fourteen cars made the restart, with Sacha Fenestraz leading the pack away with Evans in tow. From there, Dennis seized the initiative, passing Evans with a sweeping move around the outside of the Jaguar driver through turn five before slicing by Fenestraz for the lead on lap 13.
Evans and Cassidy followed by the Nissan in quick succession and after Evans missed his second Attack Mode activation, it looked like Dennis’ race to lose.
However, Evans put in the TAG Heuer Fastest Lap of the race twice in a row to pass Dennis for the lead on Lap 22. Down on energy, Dennis exclaimed he was a “sitting duck” to those around him, and the ease at which Cassidy pinched second from him confirmed his fears.
Having started in Julius Bär Pole Position, Evans comfortably made it to the flag to lead home Cassidy while Maximilian Günther was able to despatch Dennis to finish third. Günther was cheered to the podium by fans as the legendary Italian automaker raced at home for the first time since 1957.
Dennis had to use every ounce of defensive driving skills to hold off Jean-Éric Vergne who scented blood but was unable to pass the Andretti to finish fifth. JEV himself was under severe pressure from Nico Müller in the closing stages who achieved his and ABT CUPRA’s best result of the season with sixth place.
Wehrlein was able to recover to seventh in the end, despite a pit-stop pre-restart and additional damage during that mid-race crash with a drive that could prove key in the title battle.
All that drama on day one of the double-header leaves Cassidy as the new leader of the Drivers’ world championship on 171 points, five clear of previous table-topper Dennis. Evans gained ground to go 20 points shy of the lead, while Wehrlein is now 27 points back. Envision Racing heads the way in the teams’ running on 243 points from TAG Heuer Porsche on 237.
Sérgio Sette Câmara earned the ABB Driver of Progress award for achieving the most places gained in the race, having climbed 12 places to finish in ninth after starting in last place on the grid in 21st.
Keyword: Evans Survives Heat, Calamity For Rome Victory