Jaguar’s Mitch Evans won the Rome E-Prix in spectacular style, 5.7 seconds ahead of Robin Frijns and polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne.
The Kiwi started ninth on the grid, but made his way through quickly, taking the lead from the squabbling Frijns and Vandoorne, then clearing off to win in dominant style.
Previous to this race, Evans, a championship challenger last year, only had one point to his name this year. This win, then, kickstarts a delayed championship bid for the Jaguar driver.
Frijns finished second for Envision, followed closely by Mercedes’ Vandoorne. The two had fought for position all race, hacving started side by side on the front row of the grid, but Frijns eventually won out.
Jean-Eric Vergne finished fourth for DS Techeetah, with Evans’ teammate Sam Bird in fifth, affirming the inherent pace in the Jaugar car.
Vergne’s teammate Antonio Felix da Costa finished sixth, in what may be disappointing to the former champion, as he was in second at one point before falling back.
Championship leader coming inti the race Edoardo Mortara fiinished seventh for Venturi, while Mexico E-Prix race winner, Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein was eighth. Frijns’ teammate Nick Cassidy was ninth, followed by Andre Lotterer, also racing for Porsche.
Lucas di Grassi was 11th and just missed out on points for Venturi, while Mahindra’s Alexander Sims finished 12th. Jake Dennis, for Andretti, was 13th after running second at one point, dropping back after overconsuming energy. His teammate Oliver Askew finished 14th.
Sergio Sette Camara finished 15th for Dragon, with Sebastien Buemi continuing his disappointing run of form for Nissan, finishing 16th. Oliver Turvey was 18th for Nio 333, while Dragon’s Antonio Giovinazzi came home 18th.
Turvey’s teammate Dan Ticktum was 19th, while Nyck de Vries, who started third, had unspecified issues and finished 20th. Oliver Rowland and Maximillian Gunther, racing for Mahindra and Nissan, both hit the wall. Rowland managed to continue although later retired the car, and was classified 21st, while Gunther was out on the first lap and was classified last.
The second race of the Rome E-Prix weekend starts tomorrow at 13:00 GMT.
