Formula E: Mitch Evans lands first win of Season 9 in Sao Paulo
Mitch Evans secured his first win of the season on the streets of Sao Paulo, with teammate Sam Bird also securing a double podium for Jaguar TCS Racing.
The result marked an extraordinary comeback for Jaguar, with both drivers and the manufacturer suffering a frustrating start to the season, which included Sam Bird taking himself and Evans out in the Hyderabad E-Prix, and Bird missing the Cape Town E-Prix following a crash in qualifying.
However, the stars aligned for the Jaguar powertrain in the inaugural Sao Paulo E-Prix, as Mitch Evans secured his first win of the season, with Sam Bird finishing in third, and Envision’s Nick Cassidy coming in second.
Evans managed to navigate a challenging 11-turn circuit to take the chequered flag first from third on the grid, stealing the lead from Cassidy as the race headed into four TAG Heuer Added Laps.
Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa just missed out on a third successive podium as the Portugese driver came in fourth, ahead of the DS Pesnke pairing of Jean-Éric Vergen and Stoffel Vandoorne.
Vandoorne had been leading da Costa for a large portion of the race, but as the Belgian struggled for energy towards the end of the race, which inevitably allowed da Costa to sneak through.
Da Costa’s teammate and standing’s leader Pascal Werhlein had arguably one of the most impressive drives of the day, securing seventh having started all the way back in 18th. McLaren’s Jake Hughes continued his impressive start to life in Formula E with another point scoring position. The British driver came in eighth, meaning he has scored points in all bar one race this year. His teammate, Rene Rast, came in ninth with Sebastien Buemi of Envision Racing rounding out the top ten.
Avalanche Andretti’s Jake Dennis endured another frustrating weekend, pulling out of the race following contact with NIO 333’s Dan Ticktum which forced him into Werhlein and ultimately cutting his race short.
Despite his DNF, Dennis remains second in the Drivers’ Standings behind Porsche’s Pascal Werhlein. Envision’s Nick Cassidy jumps up to third in the standings following his third successive podium finish.
A double-header trip to Berlin is next up for Formula E on 22 & 23 April.
What the driver’s said…
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing: “This win has come at the perfect time, because we’ve had a tough start and the Jaguar has been quick. To finally get a victory is incredible – Nick pushed me all the way. This is all down to the hard work of the team, there’s a lot of graft that goes in, so much work into the strategy, to try and put it together is not easy so I’m super happy to get some big points on the board.”
Sam Bird, Jaguar TCS Racing: “Amazing for Jaguar TCS Racing to get the podium locked out. Massive hats off to the team here and back at base, it’s a brilliant result. I got fastest lap too, it’s good points for the team and now we can look forward to Berlin.”
Unbelievable! It’s target practice out there and I’m the target. Completely smashed into which totalled my rear end. DNF. Can’t catch a break right now. Adeus Brasil 🇧🇷 pic.twitter.com/mGebSVampD
— Jake Dennis 🔺 (@JakeDennis19) March 25, 2023
Nick Cassidy, Envision Racing Formula E: “Before the race I said that I would be super happy with a podium finish. That was Formula E at its best, so much fun from a driver’s point of view, and I hope it was a good watch for the fans. It was a pretty strategic race, and to finish with Jaguar-powered cars one, two and three is pretty cool. I knew to get the win I would have to do something pretty special to beat Mitch (Evans), but that would have been a big risk in terms of losing out and ending up third.”
