Mitch Evans redeemed himself after losing last season’s Sao Paulo E-Prix on the final lap to win the season-opening round of the ABB Formula E World Championship in Brazil after a storming drive from last on the grid.
In what was a manic race that featured a safety car period and two red flags, which extended the 31-lap race to 35, Jaguar TCS Racing driver Evans resisted TAG Heuer Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa and NEOM McLaren rookie Taylor Barnard – who had a healthy energy advantage – after the final restart to take his 13th career victory, equalling the record jointly held by Sebastien Buemi and Lucas di Grassi.
Evans started 22nd and last on the grid after failing to set a lap time in qualifying as a result of technical issues, but quickly worked his way up the order, holding 12th by the end of the second lap when the safety car came out after a collision between Jake Hughes and Nico Mueller. Hughes was bumped into the wall on the exit of Turn 6 by Buemi, with Mueller sliding into him as he tried to take evasive action.
LAST TO FIRST!
Incredible from @mitchevans_
#SaoPauloEPrix pic.twitter.com/VOThNscmZx
— Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) December 7, 2024
Both Jaguars left it late to take their final Attack Modes – Cassidy having been the first to take it earlier in the race – and that proved pivotal, as they still had one use in hand while many around them exhausted their entire eight-minute supply of the four-wheel-drive power boost.
On lap 29 Evans and Cassidy moved into first and second, Evans getting ahead by using his last Attack Mode a little later than his teammate. A lap later the race completely unravelled after a concertina through Turns 4, 5 and 6 resulted in Cassidy making contact with Maximilian Guenther – which resulted in steering damage – then Pascal Wehrlein. Evans was unable to steer through Turn 6 and hit the side of the Porsche, which vaulted into the air and came to a stop upside down.
After a lengthy stoppage, Evans restarted first ahead of Antonio Felix da Costa, but behind them were the two McLarens of Barnard and Bird. Both – along with the factory Nissans – served drive-through penalties earlier in the race due to an overuse of power, but that proved to be something of an advantage to the Papaya cars who took the final restart with plenty of energy leftover. Barnard had three percent more energy than da Costa and four percent more than Evans, while Bird had one percent more than da Costa and two more than Evans.
Barnard couldn’t capitalize, however, with Evans putting on a defensive clinic to deny da Costa any opportunity to pass. The duel between the top two never depleted enough energy to provide Barnard an easy route to victory.
Bird shadowed his teammate at the end to finish fourth, with Edoardo Mortara fifth. Norman Nato recovered from his own drive-through to take sixth, ahead of Nyck de Vries and Sebastien Buemi, with Dan Ticktum and Jean-Eric Vergne completing the points scorers.
Oliver Rowland was the last of those classified in 14th, despite leading a sizable chunk of the race. Rowland made a strong start from second on the grid to lead into the first corner, and was leading just before the final red flag after running a race that looked like the perfect balance of pace and energy management. Like his Nissan stablemates, he fell foul of an overpower infraction and was hit with a drive-through that took him out of the win equation, he then ran out of energy in his bid to recover positions.
Cassidy was set to take the final restart from third on the grid, but lined up at the back after going to the garage to repair damage during the red flag. He was ultimately scored in 15th, having retired on the final lap.
Joining Cassidy and the crashed Wehrlein, Hughes, and Mueller in retiring was David Beckmann (suspension damage after a brush with a wall), Jake Dennis, and Lucas di Grassi (software issue). Dennis was the cause of the first red flag of the race, on lap 21, after he stopped at Turn 1 with the red light on his car, indicating a grounding issue and an unsafe car which took time to remove from the circuit. His Andretti team is still investigating the cause of the issue.
Robin Frijns failed to take the start after suffering a brake system failure on the starting grid.
RESULTS
