Kiwi duo Mitch Evans and Nick Cassidy are gunning for more success in round two of the Formula E world championship this weekend in Rome.
After the opening doubleheader in Saudi Arabia in February, Evans is currently sixth in the standings while Cassidy is scoreless in 21st.
However, Cassidy crossed the line fifth in the second race at Diriyah, only to be demoted to 14th due to a technical infringement.
For Evans, Rome was the scene of his maiden Formula E win back in 2019. He remains the circuit’s most recent race winner, given last year’s E-Prix was cancelled.
“The Rome E-Prix brings back very special memories for everyone at Jaguar Racing – it was my first with the team in Formula E and that maiden winning feeling will remain with me forever,” Evans said.
“As we head to Rome we need to build on the momentum we achieved in Saudi Arabia and hopefully all the hard work will secure us more on-track success.”
Evans claimed a podium in race one at Diriyah, suggesting Jaguar are genuine race-winning contenders.
Unfortunately, Evans became mired in the wake of Nissan driver Oliver Rowland in qualifying for race two. He started 18th and had his race end following a scary shunt with Alex Lynn in the final few laps.
For Cassidy, Diriyah failed to pay the dividends his efforts deserved.
In qualifying for race one, he put in the best lap of his short career to provisionally secure a spot in the top-six shootout.
However, race officials deleted his lap after they deemed he had made up time in a section of the track under yellow flags.
The 26-year-old was then dealt a 24s time penalty in race two for not slowing down sufficiently during the first Full Course Yellow period.
A result that would have seen him sit inside the top-ten of the points standings was consequently snatched away.
The Envision Virgin rookie hopes that having back-to-back races again this weekend will help him be quickly get up to speed with another new circuit.
“Personally, having races so close together is an advantage,” Cassidy said. “It allows you to immediately apply the learnings from the day before – be it set up or strategy – when you’d normally have to wait a whole year to recreate the same conditions.
“As a rookie to the series, every track is new to me but from our extensive work on the simulator the layout looks like a lot of fun and one I’m looking forward to racing on.”
Both Rome E-Prix races can be caught live on Sky Sport 5, with TV times below:
| Session | Date | Time |
|---|---|---|
| FP1 | April 10 | 6 pm |
| FP2 | April 10 | 8 pm |
| Q | April 10 | 10 pm |
| R1 | April 11 | 2 am |
| Q2 | April 11 | 7 pm |
| R2 | April 11 | 11 pm |