Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) became the first polesitter to stride to victory in Rome in Hankook Rome E-Prix Round 13. The first race of the weekend doubleheader was itself a race of two halves, split by a massive multi-car shunt involving his teammate Sam Bird and several other drivers.
Polesitter Evans was jumped by Bird off the line, with Jaguar looking like playing it tactically, ensuring the New Zealander could conserve energy in the slipsteam behind the sister I-TYPE 6.
The pair swapped back after the opening throes of the race before Sacha Fenestraz (Nissan) made it by Bird first and then Evans for the race lead through the first round of ATTACK MODE power boost activations and a brief break in the action for a safety car while Andre Lotterer’s car was recovered after the German found the wall.
High drama on lap 9 saw multiple cars caught up in a massive shunt at the quickest part of the track with Bird losing the rear of his Jaguar over the tricky, rapid and undulating section between Turns 6 and 7.
Sebastien Buemi’s Envision Racing clipped back end of the Jaguar on his way through — the Swiss narrowly missing a square-on impact, though still suffering severe and terminal damage to his car. Edoardo Mortara (Maserati MSG Racing) flew into the side of Bird’s I-TYPE 6 as it sat stricken in the middle of the circuit while several other drivers picked their way through and escaped with minor damage — including championship contender Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche). That meant big ramifications for the teams and drivers — who all thankfully escaped unharmed in testament to the GEN3 Formula E car’s resilience — as well as the potential final destination of the title; standings leader Dennis himself also coming within inches of a big race-ending smash.
BIG shunt.
Multiple drivers are out of the @Hankook_Sport #RomeEPrix following this nasty accident. pic.twitter.com/VskBzDYafM
— ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) July 15, 2023
Fourteen cars made the restart, with Fenestraz heading the pack away with Evans in tow. From there, Dennis seized the initiative, passing Evans with a sweeping move around the outside of the Jaguar driver through Turn 5 before slicing by Fenestraz for the lead on lap 13. Evans and Cassidy followed by the Nissan in quick succession and after the former missed his second ATTACK MODE activation, it looked like Dennis’s race to lose.
However, the Jaguar driver put in the fastest lap of the race twice on the bounce and made amends to pass Dennis for the lead on lap 22. The Brit exclaimed he was a “sitting duck,” down on energy targets to those around him and the ease at which Cassidy pinched second from him showed as much.
Evans closed it out from there easily, heading home Cassidy while Maximilian Guenther (Maserati MSG Racing) also dispatched Dennis for third at the flag. The Andretti driver had it all on defending to the line from Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske). He did hold fast, though, with Vergne following fifth under severe pressure from Nico Mueller for his and ABT CUPRA’s best result of the season.
“First of all it was good to see everyone was fine after that shunt — it was pretty big and obviously Sam had a pretty scary moment, so good to see everyone is fine,” said Evans. “After that I was a little bit down on energy compared to Nick and Jake, so I had to try and equalize that. The energy targets dropped a lot after the safety car, so it became much more of an energy race than we were expecting. But I managed it well, and the team helped guide me through like always, and then leave the rest for me.
“One little scare was missing the Attack Mode. I missed it at the last loop — I was going through super slow and I still missed it! I need to practice that tomorrow. But a huge result today, maximum points, which was what I needed. Only a small dent into Nick’s lead, but it’s better than nothing.
“Four wins here is amazing — not sure what it is about this place, but I love the track. We obviously have another day tomorrow, I think people will make another big step, Nick was quick in the race as well. It is there for the taking tomorrow but we need to take the right steps, and hopefully we have got a good balance like we had today.”
The second race in the Hankook Rome E-Prix takes place Sunday, starting at 9:00am ET. The ABB FIA Formula E World Championship then concludes with Rounds 15 and 16 in London on the weekend of July 29 and 30.