EVANS storms from the back of the grid to win in Brazil as the GEN3 EVO era debuts in dramatic fashion.

The Jaguar TCS Racing ace claimed an unexpected victory as his fellow frontrunners were eliminated in the incident-plagued opening race in Sao Paulo.

There may be tens of thousands of jaguars in Brazil, but one in particular roamed Sao Paulo today (December 7). Mitch Evans begins his bid to win his first ABB FIA Formula E World Championship with historic success. Season 11 has come to an end.

The Jaguar TCS Racing star started the São Paulo E-Prix in 22nd place and was last on the grid due to issues that left him stranded on the track in qualifying. But that only set the scene for one of the greatest stories Formula E has ever written.

Evans, a two-time winner in the electric single-seater series, finished seventh on the opening lap alone. From there, a combination of bold strategy, dedicated performance behind the wheel and a bit of luck allowed him to race through the field and climb up to third behind long-time leader Oliver Rowland (Nissan Formula E Team) by the halfway mark. And then there’s Jaguars stablemate Nick Cassidy.

The action came to a halt two-thirds of the way through when Jake Dennis’ Andretti Formula E car ran a red light and took off. This cost the former champion his chance at a podium finish. The stoppage was also bad news for Rowland, who regained top spot from TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team’s António Félix da Costa after deploying a second attack mode.

The stoppage not only cost the British driver the remaining three minutes of extra power, but also meant that the orders were calculated one lap back and he had to start again from second place rather than first. Undeterred, Rowland repeated his outstanding launch from the original start to immediately take the lead. But his joy would be short-lived.

The Yorkshireman was penalized a drive-through penalty for overtaking as he maintained a comfortable three-second lead over his nearest pursuer, ahead of fellow Nissan-powered drivers Norman Nato, Sam Bird and Taylor Barnard. Barnard) also received the same foul. Previous crime.

This put Rowland out of contention for the win, and with Cassidy leading Evans, it seemed like setting up an all-Jaguar duel for glory. The duo took full advantage of being the only drivers still in the top 10 with an attack mode left to use when there were red flags. flew.

With seven laps remaining, Evans pulled out of his teammate’s slipstream to take the lead, while da Costa likewise replaced Cassidy for second when polesitter Pascal Wehrlein’s Porsche had the race paused again due to an upside-down crash. Let’s get to number 6.

A three-way squeeze between the German, Cassidy and Maximilian Günther, making his DS Penske debut, saw the latter hit the wall at Turn Five and further contact brought Wehrlein’s E-Prix to a dramatic end, with the defending champion thankfully getting out of the car unscathed. .

This sparked a four-lap sprint to the checkered flag when racing resumed, with da Costa trying everything he could to force Evans into a mistake. Both were chasing their 13th career win. Memories of season 10 in Sao Paulo – when he lost the lead just two corners from the finish – must have been on the New Zealander’s mind. But this time he was not rejected.

Evans’ defense was impeccable as he absorbed the intense pressure, making him the first driver to win from the back of the grid in Formula E and moving him to the top of the all-time winners list. , his title bid is progressing in convincing fashion.

da Costa’s runner-up spoils represented the Season 6 champion’s 24th career podium, while the NEOM McLaren Formula E Team celebrated the third and fourth places of Taylor Barnard and Sam Bird on the scene of the British team’s landmark win nine months ago.

Already the youngest points scorer in the championship, 20-year-old Barnard broke another record as the youngest Formula E podium finisher in just his fourth start. Mahindra Racing likewise achieved good results with Edoardo Mortara and Nyck de Vries finishing in 5th and 6th places respectively. Sébastien Buemi finished seventh for Envision Racing, while CUPRA KIRO’s Dan Ticktum, DS Penske’s Jean-Éric Vergne and Maserati MSG Racing’s Stoffel Vandoorne rounded out the top ten.

The campaign continues with a second round on January 11, 2025 at the Autódromo Hermanos Rodríguez in Mexico City.

TCS Jaguar Racing’s No. 9 Mitch Evans said:

“To be honest, I’m just trying to process everything! Naturally, I wasn’t expecting this after the unfortunate experience of not being able to complete a lap in qualifying and starting from behind. I was just hoping to start the season with a few points, but I ended up 18th on the first lap and was in the mix pretty quickly. Then my focus changed and I thought maybe I could get more points and maybe even get on the podium. However, we have also been lucky enough to have some people affected by some crashes. Definitely nice to meet you Pascal. [Wehrlein] Get out of that accident. I was a little lucky. It was a crazy race, managing strategy and knowing what to do and when was very difficult. We would like to thank everyone at Jaguar. “It was a really cool experience.”

Porsche Racing No.13 António Félix da Costa said:

“We’ve been through some traumatic events over the past two years, so it hasn’t been easy to get started. But as a team we had a strong car, a strong package, the testing was good, we were reliable and we are happy to come home with a podium. The win with Mitch was close, but Mitch did well from the end. That’s an achievement. It doesn’t matter how you achieve it. Finally, nice to meet you Pascal. [Wehrlein] are you okay. It reminds us that what we do is dangerous and that respect is needed between all of us. i know nick [Cassidy] A fair man, but a surprise to all of us.”

NEOM McLaren Formula E Team’s No.5 Taylor Barnard said:

“I have never written a podium speech! Especially after that race started, I had to take the front wing off and replace it, and unfortunately got a drive-through penalty after coming into the pits. I don’t know what to say. The team did a truly amazing job with the second ATTACK MODE strategy. This made it easy for me and Sam to implement this strategy. [Bird] I was able to overtake and move forward and we both did a great job. Thank you for protecting me until the end and showing great teamwork. “I didn’t expect to be standing here!”