Evans leads Jaguar front-row lockout in Rome

Mitch Evans has beaten Jaguar TCS Racing team-mate Sam Bird to start on pole for Round 13 of the 2023 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Rome, Italy.

The second Jaguar Formula E front-row lockout came after 2022 Rome winner Evans had dominated second practice, the groups stages before winning pole in sweltering heat, while Bird almost missed the Duels after a yellow flag controversy during the Group A stage.

“Obviously the car’s been working well since we got here and [that] makes life easier for us,” said Evans.

“We didn’t get our second lap in the Groups, which, fortunately I had a good banker, and the Duels the car was performing really well. Obviously this temp – it’s really hard to manage the driver aggression, so I’ll push too much, as it’s very easy to make a mistake. Obviously Sam’s done a great job, and inside the garage, so it’s been a great day for the team.”

Jaguar team boss James Barclay admitted that the team had allowed Evans to take the pole regardless, accounting for the unusually large deficit – almost a full second – between the two in the Final.

In Formula E’s fifth visit to Rome, the format saw two groups (Group A and Group B) of 11 competitors qualify using a 300kWh power setting, with the fastest four progressing to the ‘Duels’.

The hot summer weather saw temperatures in the low 30-degrees Celsius range, making the bumpy, 19-turn Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR street circuit even more challenging, with Turn 7 catching out many drivers, including Evans, during practice.

No one has ever won from pole in Rome, with only a single winner from 14 races in the 2023 Formula E season so far.

“I’ll obviously try to add to the pole-to-win tally, but as we know this year, track position is absolutely critical, I’m obviously hoping – with the guys – to create a good strategy, put me in the right place [at] the right time, and hopefully we have the same result at the end.”

Group A

Group A saw Jake Dennis, Pascal Wehrlein, Jean-Eric Vergne, Maximilian Gunther, Sam Bird, Stoffel Vandoorne, Sacha Fenestraz, Andre Lotterer, Dan Ticktum, Sergio Sette Camara and Nico Muller.

Wehrlein, who topped opening practice, set the early pace with a 1:40.108 before Muller bested that with a 1:40,094 before Jake Dennis was the first into the 1:39s, with a 1:39.618 with 6:30 left on the clock.

Bird was next, then Fenestraz, with Lotterer into the 1:39s with a 1:39.931 for P4.

Vandoorne, sporting damage on the DS Penske after clouting the wall at the exit of Turn 7 and was 11th and last in Group A at the halfway point.

The final push with just under three minutes remaining saw Dennis’ 1:39.618 the target, looking more difficult as track temperatures rapidly increased mid-session.

Wehrleins’ final hot lap saw him in sixth 1:40.108 – a yellow at Turn 4 had already been passed by Wherlein but caught by Dennis and others  as Camara spun at Turn 4.

Wherlein goes P1 with a 1:39.447 – but that wasn’t enough to make the Duels as Fenestraz ended the session fastest with a stunning 1:39.912 from Bird (1:39.024) and Dennis on his last lap 1:39.214 for P3 and Gunther fourth on a 1:39.413.

Wehrlein was fifth on the timesheets, but his Porsche team did not expect it to remain that way.

“It was very close – P5 – but from me it’s not a P5 at the moment because when you see a lot of drivers improved under yellow flags in sector 1, and there was clearly yellow, and I expect Race Control and the stewards are on it and observing at the moment what happened in the second run,” said Porsche Tag Heuer boss, Florian Modlinger.

After the stewards reviewed the session, Dennis time stood, however Vandoorne and Bird lost their laps, which pushed Bird out and promoted Wherlein into the Duels.

Group B

Group B include last year’s winner and pace-setter Mitch Evans, as well as Nick Cassidy, Antonio Felix Da Costa, Sebastien Buemi, Jake Hughes, Rene Rast, Lucas di Grassi, Norman Nato, Edoardo Mortara, Robin Frijns and Roberto Merhi. Buemi topped the first passes with a 1:39.459 from Cassidy (1:39630), Nato 1:39.968 and Da Costa (1:40.149).

Mitch Evans then vaulted to the top with a 1:39.00 from Buemi, Hughes (1:39.494) and Rene Rast (1:39.554).

Massive lock-up into Turn 7 for Lucas Di Grassi in what appeared to be a mechanical issue for the Mahindra as the rest of the field returned to the pit lane ahead of a final push.

With 18 seconds to go, the session was red flagged and declared after Jake Hughes’ McLaren had significant crash, losing the rear to hit the barriers twice after Turn 6, tearing the front left off the car.

That meant Cassidy, running second in the championship and borderline making it to the Duels, was eliminated and Evan’s earlier time remaining unbeaten, with Buemi, Rast and Mortara making the four.

Duels

The time spent clearing the damage McLaren of Hughes saw Jaguar appealing the elimination of Sam Bird from the Group A session, the Brit sitting in his car ready for the session. Officials relented, reinstating Bird and Vandoorne’s laps – and Bird’s position the Duels at the expense of Wherlein.

That meant the Duels from Group A would be between Dennis and Bird, with the other Gunther against Fenestraz.

Group B’s Duels would be Rast versus Buemi and the Evans facing Mortara.

Quarterfinal 1

Dennis and Bird were first on track for Quarter Final 1, with Bird instantly rewarding the Jaguar TCS team’s efforts to overturn his penalty by gapping the #27 Avalanche Andretti by 0.25 at the first split. Bird stretched that to 0.259s, 0.314s and finally 0.450s with a 1:38.8 lap.

Fenestraz faced Gunther in Quarterfinal 2, and picked up where he left off in the more obedient looking Nissan to set a 1:38.872 to defeat Gunther.

Rene Rast battled Sebastien Buemi next, with Rast 0.011s off Buemi early on before gaining ground to be 0.2s up – yet Buemi made up the time in the final sector to set a 1:38.822 to just oust Rast on a 1:38.861.

Evans then faced Mortara Quarterfinal 4, with Evans’ form making him the favourite. That expectation was immediately met at the first sector, but Mortara pushed #48 Maserati to a 1:39.900 – yet Evans set the fastest time of the quarter finals with a 1:38.460.

Semi-finals

Evans would face Buemi, while Bird would face off with Fenestraz.

Fenestraz led Bird across the start line and bested the Jaguar by 0.015s in Sector 1, but Bird was a just 0.001s up in the next split before a mistake from the Frenchman saw the gap balloon to 0.817s – Bird setting a 1:38.761 to be more  a second up on Fenestraz’s 1:39.807.

Bird’s team-mate Evans then faced Buemi, who had a messy start to the lap to be 0.061 down on Evans at Sector 1, increased to 0.080s then 0.149s then 1.1s as Evans ascended to post a scintillating 1:38.461 to Buemi’s 1:40.470.

Final

The two Jaguar team-mates would meet in the Final, New Zealand’s Evans against Bird – with the two battling for the clean side of the grid for the Round 13 race.

With Bird ninth in the standings, and Evans in fourth looking to capitalise as key rivals ahead on the points table, the result was critical for the driver’s championship, the team calling off Bird’s run to reduce needless risk of its team cars.

Bird led the way but was 0.007s behind at the first split, then 0.14s up at Sector 2 – a mistake saw Bird drop 1.19s to gift Evans the Julius Baer pole position and the clean side of the grid. The result was a 1:40.985 for Bird and a 1:39.089 pole time for Evans – his second of the 2023 season.

The Round 13 race starts at 15:03 local time/23:03 AEST Saturday July 15.