Jaguar TCS Racing is the ABB FIA Formula E Teams’ World Champion once again, successfully defending its title in Sunday’s dramatic London finale to finish just ahead of Porsche in the standings.

The crown was delivered by Mitch Evans, whose fourth place at the ExCeL banked the points the British team needed on an afternoon when almost everything else refused to go to script.

For Evans himself, it was bittersweet. The Kiwi arrived at Round 17 needing victory to snatch the Drivers’ World Championship, but with DS PENSKE’s Taylor Barnard and the two Mahindras of Nyck de Vries and Edoardo Mortara breaking clear at the front, the win never looked on and the drivers’ crown went to Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein for a second time.

Jaguar had arrived in London ahead in the Teams’ standings after Tokyo, but the fight with Porsche went all the way to the final race of the season.

The German manufacturer had landed the first blow on Saturday, Wehrlein winning the opening race at the ExCeL to seize the initiative in both title fights heading into the decider. Jaguar’s consolation that day was a rostrum finish for Antonio Felix da Costa, third behind Wehrlein and Dennis, which kept the team’s numbers game alive.

Chaos behind, calm where it counted

Sunday’s race gave Jaguar every chance to profit from the mayhem unfolding around its title rival. Wehrlein was ordered to wave through Envision’s Sebastien Buemi on Lap 27, was shuffled down to 12th as Andretti’s Jake Dennis briefly hit the top of the virtual standings, and then tangled with Envision’s Joel Eriksson at Turn 16 on Lap 31.

That incident left Dennis’ car with race-ending damage and ended the Briton’s title challenge, but Evans could not capitalise at the front. Fourth was as far as the chasing pack allowed, and while it fell short of a fairytale for the driver, it was exactly what the team required.

The result means the season’s three world titles are split between Formula E’s two heavyweight manufacturers. Jaguar retains the Teams’ crown, while Porsche pairs Wehrlein’s drivers’ championship with the Manufacturers’ title it had already wrapped up in Tokyo earlier in the season.

There was history elsewhere on Sunday, too. Barnard’s maiden victory, at 22 years and 76 days old, made him the youngest race winner Formula E has ever seen, achieved in DS Automobiles’ final appearance in the championship.

Jaguar’s title defence next season will come on home tarmac of a different kind, with the ExCeL bowing out as the London E-Prix moves to Brands Hatch for the Gen4 era.