New Zealander Mitch Evans has bounced back to form in stunning fashion by winning the inaugural Sao Paulo E-Prix over compatriot Nick Cassidy.
It was a solid morning for Evans’ Jaguar outfit with his teammate Sam Bird rounding out the podium.
Both Kiwis had done well in qualifying for the race with Evans making it to the semi-final of the duels whilst Cassidy was eliminated in the quarters. This saw the eventual race-winner start third on the grid and Cassidy fifth.
Stoffell Vandoorne was the winner of qualifying by topping Antonio Felix da Costa in the final.
It was ultimately a clean start as Vandoorne got away well from pole, leading the first laps and only briefly surrendering that to da Costa when he activated his attack mode.
This was only temporary before he retook the lead, before Evans then Cassidy followed through with passes on last round’s winner to sit second and third respectively.
A Safety Car intervention was called for for a stricken car on track with Cassidy having moved to second before the Lap 12 restart saw da Costa pass both Kiwis to briefly take second.
Slipstream was expected to be powerful on the new circuit and it proved the case, Vandoorne and da Costa both backing off from leading on Lap 14 to prevent its affects, allowing Cassidy through to top spot until he activated attack mode some laps later.
Another Safety Car on Lap 16 – for a collision between Jake Dennis and championship leader Pascal Wehrlein – saw Cassidy, having returned to the lead, pull away off the restart.
Evans had also moved forward with Vandoorne saving energy having led for so long early. The gap to the lead was nearly 2 seconds for the Jaguar driver but he quickly ate into that before taking the lead on Lap 31.
Four added laps for the two Safety Car interruptions gave Cassidy a chance to return to top spot but Evans held on for victory. Bird had also worked hard to pass da Costa late for the final podium whilst Vandoorne was left in sixth following a late Jean-Eric Vergne charge.
Amazingly, Wehrlein recovered from his mid-race incident and drove through the field to finish seventh having been 18th at one point.
Evans’ win brings a much needed big haul of points for last year’s runner-up who has had a hard run of luck in the championship of late. It moves him up to ninth in the championship in an extremely compressed top 10.
Cassidy sits third in the standings but more importantly has reduced the gap to the early runaway leaders, now only 1 point off Dennis and within a race victory of Wehrlein.
It’s now three podiums in a row for the Envision racer whose stunning run of form continues to make a massive imprint on the global stage.
Formula E next returns with the Berlin E-Prix in four weeks time.
