New Zealand driver Mitch Evans has claimed victory in yesterdays Seoul E-Prix to remain in contention for the championship with tonights final race of the season. Evans, who qualified third for the race, started well to take second place by overtaking poor-starting pole-sitter Oliver Rowland by the first corner.
Lucas di Grassi, who started alongside Rowland on the front row, led the race from here, with that lead lasting only one more corner as Evans made a move on Turn 2 to take the lead. From here the Kiwi remained unchallenged, building and maintaining a lead which was not lost throughout the race.
It was a dramatic event on the Seoul street and stadium circuit, with a multi-car pileup at Turn 21 on the first lap seeing Jaguar stand-in Norman Nato sliding into the wall in wet conditions.
In spectacular fashion, Nato was followed into the wall by Sebastien Buemi, Dan Ticktum, Nyck de Vries, Oliver Askew, Andre Lotterer, Oliver Turvey and Kiwi Nick Cassidy. The incident saw de Vries make contact with the stopped Buemi whose car ended up on top of the Dutchman, the halo fortunately preventing any injury.
Cassidy was one of the few drivers able to resume from the incident, with a red flag halting proceedings for over 30 minutes to allow for vehicle extraction and barrier repairs.
Evans built his lead from the restart, running 3 seconds clear by the closing stages of the race. A lockup compromised this gap with four laps remaining, however a late safety car due to Alexander Sims hitting the wall saw the event finish under a safety car, all but gifting Evans the win.
Cassidy recovered well from the multi-car pileup on Lap 1 and had worked his way through the troubled field by the end of the race, coming home in 10th. Nine drivers of the 22 car field failed to finish the event.
The win puts Evans into second place in the championship standings ahead of the final race tonight. Leader Stoffel Vandoorne only managed to come home in fifth, however still holds a 19 point lead over Evans.
The championship win is possible for Evans tonight, with 25 points awarded for a race victory. A good result will not secure this however, with Vandoorne only needing to finish inside the top seven drivers should Evans win again to claim the crown.
The season ending Race 16 begins at 6.30pm NZ time tonight and will be shown live on Sky Sport 5 (055).
