Jean-Éric Vergne snatched victory in Rome, as the Jaguar duo of Sam Bird and Mitch Evans brought home their first double podium for the British team.
A loose manhole cover triggered a safety car finish after the Mercedes EQ team-mates of Stoffel Vandoorne and Nyck de Vries to collided.
Mixed conditions on track saw the race get underway behind the safety car, with NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey notably absent, after sustaining heavy damage in FP1.
Pole sitter Vandoorne got a clean getaway, with André Lotterer staying with him as Nissan e.dams’ Oliver Rowland dropped back from the leading pair.
This proved to be a lucky decision for the Brit, as both drivers collided as Lotterer attempted to dive up the inside of Vandoorne. The Porsche was briefly planted in the barriers before dropping down to seventh as Vandoorne fell to 13th.
However, things weren’t all rosy at the front of the grid, with race leader Rowland issued with a drive-through penalty for power overuse, promoting Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Lucas di Grassi to the race lead ahead of Vergne and Robin Frijns.
Vergne became the first of the leading drivers to take attack mode, narrowly avoiding contact with de Vries on the exit of Turn 15.
Di Grassi then went on the attack, with the Brazilian surrendering the lead to Vergne and dropping to third.
Lotterer’s day on the other hand went from bad to worse, after being passed by both Vandoorne and Günther and suffering front wing damage, he was awarded a five-second penalty for his role in the collision early on.
The battle for the race lead continued to heat up, with Frijns applying pressure on Vergne and forcing him to go on the defence up the inside of Turn 3. However, this move left room for di Grassi to force his way past the Dutch driver for second, before de Vries was able to move past Frijns as well.
With 16 minutes left on the clock, Vergne and di Grassi activated their second attack modes and championship leader de Vries assumed the race lead.
Bird was a man on a mission, overtaking several drivers with easy with a dummy move on Frijns, before charging past Vandoorne along the straight and lunging past de Vries for third.
He was only Jaguar on the hunt, with Evans pulling off a daring move on de Vries on the inside of the Turn 15 hairpin. However, concerns were raised as the Kiwi was over-consuming energy.
Drama continued at the front, with di Grassi overtaking Vergne for the race lead at Turn 4. Yet his joy soon turned to despair as he was forced to slow on track with an issue.
The race was then brought to an abrupt stop as Vandoorne hit a raised manhole cover and spun. Having nowhere to go, de Vries collided with his team-mate and both drivers were forced to retire, as the safety car was deployed with four minutes remaining.
Extensive debris on track meant that the race was forced to finish under the safety car, with Vergne taking home the victory ahead of Bird and Evans, with the Kiwi driver also receiving the additional point for the fastest lap.
Frijns came home in fourth, up ahead of Sébastien Buemi and René Rast, in a remarkable recovery drive for the German who qualified in 21st.
Wehrlein finished in seventh, in front of Alexander Lynn and Maximillian Günther. Rookie Nick Cassidy brought home his first points finish in tenth.
Tom Blomqvist’s NIO 333 finished just outside the points in 11th, with Norman Nato and Rowland behind him. The Dragon/Penske duo of Nico Müller and Sette Câmara came home in 14th and 15th, respectively.
After the contact with Vandoorne, Lotterer was the last of the finishers in 16th.
Seven drivers were not classified with Di Grassi, de Vries, Vandoorne, da Costa, Dennis, Mortara and Sims all failing to finish and Turvey was unable to start the race.
Bird now leads the Drivers’ Championship on 43 points, with Frijns, de Vries and Evans all within two points of each other.
A double podium in Rome has seen Jaguar jump to the top of the Teams’ Championship on 74 points, ahead of DS Techeetah.
Thoughts now turn to Round 4 of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship tomorrow morning, and several drivers will be looking for redemption in Rome.
[motorsport_result id=’60324′]
