Evans goes from ninth to first to win Formula E’s Rome opener

Mitch Evans turned Jaguar’s 2022 Formula E season around and ended a personal win drought of just over two years with an epic victory from ninth on the grid in the Rome opener.

Evans had scored just one point so far this season as Jaguar’s winter hopes of a title bid instantly crumbled.

Only qualifying ninth in Rome, where the team had been optimistic of starting its fightback, suggested the Italian round would be more of the same.

But the Jaguars were able to generate strong race pace while still conserving more energy than most rivals. That plus leaving both their attack mode deployments relatively late allowed Evans and team-mate Sam Bird to make great progress in the race.

It had looked like polesitter Stoffel Vandoorne’s Mercedes versus front row partner Robin Frijns’ Envision-run Audi for the win for much of the distance.

Frijns sliced past Vandoorne to hit the front early on, then left his first attack mode late and had enough of a gap to retain the lead as he did so.

Envision pulled the opposite tactic for Frijns’ second attack mode run, diving for it earlier than most.

This time he lost the lead to Vandoorne, regained it when the Mercedes went for the attack mode loop then lost it once more as Vandoorne made good use of his extra power after Frijns’ allowance had expired.

When it was back to a straight fight in normal power modes, Vandoorne had a moment under braking while defending against Frijns and not only lost the lead to the Envision driver but dropped behind the flying Evans too.

And with the Jaguar having only just taken its second attack mode – four laps and seven minutes later than Frijns – Evans was soon flying past Frijns too and disappearing up the road.

He led by as much as nine seconds on the way to sealing his first victory since the February 2020 Mexico City race.

Frijns, Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne had a ferocious battle for second as Evans vanished from their sight, with brilliant moves on both his rivals securing the runner-up spot for Frijns.

Vandoorne narrowly resisted Vergne and Evans’ charging team-mate Sam Bird – up from 13th on the grid with the same tactics as the other Jaguar – for the final podium place.

Vergne’s DS Techeetah team-mate Antonio Felix da Costa ran as high as second thanks to a very early first attack mode deployment that let him leap a group of rivals when they took theirs.

He was then shuffled back as he ran out of extra power, with a tap from Jake Dennis costing him more ground. He salvaged sixth.

Edoardo Mortara clung onto the championship lead by finishing seventh from 11th on the grid, despite a 5s time penalty for sending Oliver Rowland’s Mahindra broadside on lap one.

Mortara’s Venturi team-mate Lucas di Grassi, both Nissans and both NIO 333s got trapped behind Rowland, and Maximilian Guenther then ploughed into the barriers later on the first lap – possibly thanks to damage on his Nissan. That prompted a long safety car period.

Porsche couldn’t follow up its Mexico City 1-2 with a strong Rome result, Pascal Wehrlein and Andre Lotterer finishing only eighth and 10th, sandwiching Frijns’ team-mate Nick Cassidy.

Dennis charged as high as second for Avalanche Andretti but used a lot of energy on the way. Making it for that plus getting a five second penalty for hitting da Costa left him 13th at the end.

Reigning champion Nyck de Vries was in podium contention early on before losing race pace and sliding towards the foot of the top 10. He retired in the pits two laps from the finish having sustained steering damage in a clash with Wehrlein.

Formula 1 convert Antonio Giovinazzi was prominent in Formula E’s marketing of his home race, but there was no upturn in his poor form with the struggling Dragon Penske team. He finished a lonely 18th, over a minute off the front.

Race Results