Kiwi Evans masters Rome E-Prix

Mitch Evans has won the Rome E-Prix to become the first driver to achieve victory from pole position at the Circuito Cittadino dell’EUR.

The win pushed the New Zealander up one place to sit third in the standings ahead of Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, within striking distance of Jake Dennis and Championship leader, Nick Cassidy.

Evans’ third win in a row in Rome, having won both of 2022’s races, came after he’d been the clear standout across practice and qualifying sessions, with unrivalled pace in that saw Evans and Jaguar TCS Racing team-mate Sam Bird lock out the front row in the final Duel for pole position.

The pole added three additional points to Evan’s title chase, which saw him fourth coming into the weekend, with Bird taking the lead from Evans off the start as a strategic move to conserve power in Evan’s Jaguar.

Bird then dropped to second and came under pressure from Sacha Fenestraz’s Nissan, who then went on to pass Evans for the race lead through the first Attack Mode stage.

A Safety Car was deployed to remove Andre Lotterer’s car, after the German found the wall, yet a massive incident involving the Jaguar of Bird saw the race red flagged.

Bird had lost control of the #10 over the bumpy entry into Turn 6 – a problem area for all drivers across the weekend – spinning to face oncoming cars, who had to negotiate significant debris with many, including Jean-Eric Vergne’s DS Penske, brushing the wall as they took the narrow passage between the crashed Jaguar and the circuit’s concrete walls.

While Bird’s car came to rest off the racing line, it was a luckless Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing) who clipped the stricken Jaguar, before Edoardo Mortara (Maserati MSG Racing) did the same to end up on top of Bird’s entry.

The restart saw Fenestraz lead the pack – reduced to 14 cars – ahead of Evans, who was passed by Dennis at Turn 5 before Fenestraz fell victim to the Avalanche Andretti driver, Dennis leading, before Evans and Nick Cassidy followed him through into second and third. The Nissan driver would fall to 10th by the chequered flag.

Dennis looked in command – especially given that Evans had missed his next Attack Mode opportunity – before the Jaguar driver pumped out two fastest laps to close the gap and take the lead from the Brit, who is now only 15 points ahead of Evans in the standings, on Lap 22.

Cassidy also made it by Dennis to finish 1.6s behind Evans, who again proved the master of the streets of Rome.

Formula E continues in the Italian capital for Round 16 on Sunday, with Free Practice at 08:10 local time/16:10 AEST ahead of Qualifying at 10:40 local time/20:10 AEST.