New Zealand's Mitch Evans has emerged victorious at the third round of the 2019-'20 FIA Formula E Championship — subsequently taking the lead of the standings for Jaguar.
“The work ethic and the work that has gone into basically trying to find out solutions to why we had that pace difference in Santiago," said Evans. “I think we’ve found that. The guys have me such a good car. I just had to hit my targets. When you’re out in front you can get into a rhythm."
.@mitchevans_ takes the lead from @Andre_Lotterer just seconds into the #MexicoCityEPrix pic.twitter.com/hxBGymTxlt
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 15, 2020
“It was pretty tough. It was almost like deja vu with Andre [Lotterer] from Rome. Hats off to everyone. This feels really nice to get our first victory of the season.”
It was very nearly an Evans lockout of the day's racing, with Mitch's brother Simon dicing for victory in the supporting Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy series. He took the lead in the closing laps from Brazilian Sergio Jimenez, but Jimenez was able to nip back by him to take the lead and the win with Evans taking second.
The former Toyota Racing Series champ dominated the 45-minute showdown, leading from start to finish as numerous rivals stumbled in the background.
Evans snatched the lead off the start after pole-sitter Andre Lotterer struggled at the start. Lotterer's tour through the grass on the opening lap was indicative of what would become a rather dramatic race.
Nico Muller soon crashed out of sixth place, and then former Formula 1 plot Felipe Massa crashed as well. Lotterer, while aggressively trying to recover from the lap one incident, ended up incurring damage further down the track — resulting in a puncture and an unscheduled pit-stop.
OMG 😲 #MexicoCityEPrix pic.twitter.com/vcvHzZNIc4
— ABB Formula E (@FIAFormulaE) February 15, 2020
The crashes continued well into the final few minutes. Nyck de Vries, Sam Bird, Robin Frijns and Stoffel Vandoorne all got caught up in various incidents on the run to the flag.
None were quick enough to truly threaten Evans regardless, and with all of them falling foul of the Mexico walls Evans was able to win with a 4.2-second margin over Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Congratulations to @oSergioJimenez who takes first place in Mexico City!
— Jaguar Racing (@JaguarRacing) February 16, 2020
A commanding performance from the Brazilian🇧🇷 @Jaguar #IPACE #eTROPHY driver, with @SimonEvans__🇳🇿 taking P2 and our VIP Driver @SUPERMARIODOM🇲🇽 crossing the line in P3⚡#JaguarElectrifies #ABBFormulaE pic.twitter.com/fcFoxikKuy
Former champ Sebastien Buemi, Jean-Eric Vergne, Alexander Sims, Lucas di Grassi, Oliver Rowland, Edoardo Mortara, Evans' teammate James Calado, and Pascal Werhlein rounded out the top 10. Fellow Kiwi Brendon Hartley finished just shy of the top 10, in 14th.
The second win of Evans' FIA Formula E career means he leads the standings by just one point over Alexander Sims. The series now heads to Marrakesh for round four on February 29.