Mitch Evans praised “team player” Nick Cassidy as the pair secured a one-two finish for Jaguar TCS Racing at the Monaco E-Prix.
Evans won by 0.946s over Cassidy, who himself had a 2.889s advantage over DS Penske’s Stoffel Vandoorne at the end of the race, but it was Cassidy’s control over those behind him that allowed Evans to maintain the lead after taking both of his Attack Modes.
“We knew it was going to be a tough race, we knew it was going to be all about the strategy around the attacks — obviously Nick and I started side-by-side so that kind of helped things as the race evolved,” said Evans. “We had a rough game plan before going to the race but I really owe this win to Nick — he really helped me when it mattered, I helped him when it mattered. I really appreciate the team player he was today.”
Expanding on the strategy discussions, Evans acknowledged that while races can often turn out differently to how they’re predicted, Monaco matched the Jaguar team’s expectations.
“Obviously we discuss all potential scenarios but the majority of the time when you get on track the race happens completely differently,” he said. “But the way it turned out, I think it was as expected and we knew we were going to be racing with each other on track instead of tripping over ourselves — we may as well help each other (and) it’s quite a bit Attack loss here.
“I think the DS guys were trying to do the same thing as well but we executed that perfectly. Obviously we discuss this pre-race but also other scenarios that could potentially happen, but it played out exactly as we wanted it.”
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While the result was a landmark one for Jaguar, it was also a big moment for Evans who was a six-time podium finisher across GP2 and Formula E prior to his win on Sunday.
“It’s just an amazing achievement for the team, and for me to finally get my first win here after trying — even before Formula E I was trying, in GP2 and everything — so to finally get on the top step here means the world,” he said.
Evans’ first Monaco win was also his first of the season, a season which has so far been disappointing for the New Zealander, who started the year as one of the championship favorites.
“I haven’t started the way I would’ve liked,” he admitted. “I came off the back of a really strong end of last season with many wins and podiums so I was expecting the same to start, or at least early on in the season.
“Obviously I had Brazil which was a second place, almost a win, but it’s not really gone the way I would’ve liked so far. So while this win’s come at a really good time, a really critical stage of the championship, to get my first win finally is nice — to get that first win of the season always feels like a monkey off your back and then you can try and carry that momentum through the rest of the championship.”
Cassidy, who won last year’s Monaco E-Prix for Envision Racing prior to switching to the factory Jaguar team this year, paid tribute to Evans, noting that he’d been the team’s leader in practice and qualifying at Monaco,
“Today’s about Mitch — he won the Monaco E-Prix, he’s a very deserving winner,” Cassidy said. “(He’s had) many, many podiums here (and been) very close. I was lucky enough to be in a position with him, the other way round, last year and got the win here. It’s very very special.
“We had the performance today — I think not quite as much as Mitch in practice and qualifying, we struggled a little bit, but we were there when it counted and it’s a great team result.”