Formula E: Evans sets up title decider with chaotic Seoul E-Prix win
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans kept his title hopes alive by securing his fourth win of the season in a dramatic Seoul E-Prix.
In the final weekend of the season, rain battered the South Korean capital with a number of incidents throughout the various sessions, and the wet conditions continued to wreak havoc once the race got underway.
With Mahindra’s Oliver Rowland starting on pole in front of ROKiT Venturi’s Lucas di Grassi and Mitch Evans, it was the Kiwi who got the fastest start, sprinting in front of Rowland and battling with di Grassi through the first couple of corners, before executing a daring overtake down the inside of Turn 3 to take the position at the front of the pack.
With a lot of standing water still on track, it was almost a carbon copy of the first race of the New York E-Prix, as a number of cars skidded off track and ploughing straight into the barriers.
It was a scary accident, especially with Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries smashing into the back of Sebastien Buemi, causing Buemi’s car to ride up on top of de Vries’ car.
The race was red flagged and after a lengthy delay, the race resumed under the safety car. Evans’ got things back underway, and with six drivers forced out through the accident, the rest of the grid looked cautious.
Evans managed to navigate the rest of the race comfortably, and after a late accident involving Mahindra’s Alexander Sims, the Kiwi had a straight run across the finishing line behind the Safety Car.
Oliver Rowland managed to claim a decent points haul with his second placed finish and pole position, with Lucas di Grassi sealing his 1,000th point in Formula E with third place.
Championship leader, Stoffel Vandoorne, finished fifth behind Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis. The result means Vandoorne holds a 21-point lead over Evans heading into the final race of the season.
There is still a lot still to do with Evans, with the Jaguar man surely needing Vandoorne to finish outside of the points – something he has only done once this season – in order to claim his first ever Formula E World Championship.
Rounding out the top ten was DS Techeetah’s Jean-Éric Vergne in sixth, Porsche’s Pascal Werhlein in seventh, Envision’s Robin Frijns in eight, Antonio Felix da Costa of DS Techeetah in ninth and Envision’s Nick Cassidy in tenth.
