Mitch Evans has survived a chaotic opening race of the Rome E-Prix to convert pole to victory at Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR, topping fellow New Zealander Nick Cassidy for the third Kiwi one-two of the 2023 Formula E season.
Cassidy now leads the championship with just three races to run, with former leader Jake Dennis dropping to fourth after being forced to conserve energy while in the race lead with six laps to run.
Maximilian Gunther would round out the podium places, several seconds down the road from the Kiwi pair who had pulled clear following their late attack mode activations.
A serious Lap 9 incident saw several contenders forced from proceedings, with Sam Bird, who had led early, collecting the wall and bouncing into the path of oncoming traffic. Cassidy, who had started ninth, and Dennis narrowly avoided collecting the Jaguar, but Sebastien Buemi would clip him at speed and bounce into the fence, briefly running on his side.
Edoardo Mortara would then t-bone a stricken Bird in a massive impact, while several other cars would make contact with either the vehicle or wall while taking evasive action at the exit of the blind corner.
Just 13 of the 22 entered cars would make the finish, with Jake Hughes not making the start having crashed out in qualifying.
Dennis had looked the most likely to take the flag as the race entered its final phase but would ultimately lose out after the Kiwis entered their final attack modes. Evans had dropped to second while attempting to activate his second allocated burst but missed the activation zone and lost more time when running wide again the following lap.
He was able to limit his losses to take the lead on lap 22, while Cassidy followed through at the end of the same lap to take the championship lead on track.
As Dennis dropped back, both Kiwis would pull clear, Evans holding on to a 1.6-second win over his compatriot with Gunther 7.5 seconds down the road. Dennis would finish 21 seconds off the pace of Evans.
Evans has now won the last three Rome E-Prixs, having finished first in last year’s races. He also set the best lap of this morning’s race, meaning he takes home a maximum 29 points from the round, having scored three for qualifying on pole.
Cassidy’s championship lead now sits at five points over Dennis, while Evans moves to third and is 20 points off the top spot.
Pascal Wehrlein remains in title contention, having finished seventh, overcoming an early front-wing change to sit seven points behind Evans.
The second race of the Rome E-Prix begins with qualifying at 8.30 pm this evening, with the race following at 12.30 am. Both will be shown live on Sky Sport.
As it happened
Having won both of last year’s races at the same venue, Evans picked up right where he left off, pipping teammate Sam Bird in the duels to qualify on pole for a Jaguar TCS Racing front-row lockout.
Nick Cassidy started ninth on the grid, failing to progress to the duels after Jake Hughes triggered a late red flag late in Group B qualifying, which resulted in an early end to the session. Hughes had sat in a shootout spot at the time of his impact but was relegated to the rear for triggering a red flag. However, the damage to his car saw him unable to make the start.
Championship leader Jake Dennis started seventh, while third-placed Pascal Wehrlein would start next to Cassidy in tenth.
Bird would pip Evans off the line into Turn 1, while Cassidy was the benefactor of some Lap 1 chaos to move up to sixth. Wehrlein was one of the drivers caught up in the drama, forced to box for a new front wing and dropping to the rear of the field.
A Safety Car was called for on Lap 3 when Andre Lotterer ran into the Turn 6 wall, the field returning to single file with Bird retaining the lead over his teammate. This worked wonders for Wehrlein, who was able to catch the field and join the rear of the queue.
Evans would retake the lead off Bird at Turn 7 shortly after the Lap 5 restart, while Sacha Fenestraz would follow through the very next lap to take second.
Cassidy, meanwhile, had settled comfortably into sixth, with Dennis ahead, as Rene Rast pulled a move on Bird to take third.
Evans activated his first attack mode on Lap 7, only dropping one position to fall to second behind Fenestraz, who retained the lead when activating his attack mode a lap later.
Bird’s miserable day would continue on Lap 9, with a high-speed crash on the fastest part of the circuit seeing him bounce off the wall into the middle of the track. Sebastien Buemi would collect Bird’s Jaguar at pace, sliding down the road, while Edoardo Mortara would follow through and t-bone the stricken Jaguar. All three cars suffered significant damage, and the impact triggered an immediate red flag. All drivers emerged uninjured from the frightening crash.
Having directly trailed Bird, Cassidy would narrowly avoid the collision, but several other drivers, including Antonio Felix da Costa, Lucas Di Grassi and Robin Frijns, would suffer damage having made contact with either Bird’s car or the wall while taking evasive action.
A lengthy delay followed for the removal of the stricken cars and debris, with only 14 cars of the entered 22 able to rejoin the race nearly an hour after the opening lap. Fenestraz would start off the front ahead of Evans, Rast, Dennis and Cassidy, respectively.
Dennis would quickly move past Rast off the restart while Gunther would take fifth off Cassidy, who would retake the spot a lap later. The Kiwi would then get past Rast for fourth on Lap 12 but was still required to run two attack modes.
Dan Ticktum would suffer damage mid-pack and have to take to pit lane, while Rast followed into the same lap with apparent mechanical issues. Ticktum would retake the track, but Rast would not.
A fierce five-car battle at the front would follow, with the order continuing to shuffle and Dennis taking the lead and quickly putting a gap on the field and retaining his position when he entered attack mode.
Fenestraz proved to be the wall that kept Cassidy back from joining Dennis and Evans up front, the early race leader eventually relinquishing on Lap 17 to see both Kiwis in the podium places.
Evans would take the lead as Dennis used his final attack mode on Lap 19, as Cassidy followed and retained third over Gunther, with the front four pulling well clear of the field.
Evans and Dennis would then build a gap over Cassidy, with Dennis taking the race lead as Evans ran wide to enter attack mode. Unfortunately, he missed the activation zone, resulting in him having to run wide again the following lap.
Cassidy would use his final attack mode on Lap 22, retaining third and setting up a double Kiwi podium.
Evans would quickly overcome his attack mode activation mishap to take the race lead that same lap, while Cassidy would follow through on Dennis to relegate the championship leader to third.
A lack of energy for Dennis saw him continue to tumble, with Gunther taking third and his rival exposed to a fast-charging Jean-Eric Vergne and Muller.
Evans held a two-second lead over Cassidy up front with three laps to run, the two Kiwis checking out and pulling well-clear.
Dennis would put up an impressive display of defence to hold fourth, with the Kiwis running unchallenged at the front.
Evans would make it three wins in a row at Rome, topping his compatriot Cassidy, while Gunther rounded out the podium. Dennis was fourth, ahead of Vergne and Muller, while Wehrlein recovered from his difficult start to score good points in seventh.
Norman Nato, Sergio Sette Camara and Fenestraz would round out the top 10.
Header Image: Fomula E
