Mitch Evans has kickstarted his Formula E campaign with a stunning charge through the field to take victory in the wet in the Miami E-Prix.
The Jaguar driver, who had failed to score a point in the opening two rounds, surged from ninth on the grid with a smart energy conservation strategy before using his Attack Modes to pick off his rivals to move into the lead.
Evans’ overtake for the lead was arguably his best, with a switchback effort on Nico Mueller at Turn 13 seeing him at the front of the pack at the start of lap 28. The Kiwi then measured his battery life and pace over the rest of the race to clinch victory by 3.151s.
Mueller, who was entangled in an early fight for the lead with Felipe Drugovich, had to settle for second ahead of Porsche team-mate Pascal Wehrlein who made it a double podium for the German manufacturer.
Wehrlein’s rostrum, coupled with no points for Nick Cassidy, sees the German trim the Citroen driver’s championship lead to two points heading to the Saudi Arabian double-header in two weeks.
Joel Eriksson secured a career-best fourth place in an impressive drive for Envision Racing, partly aided by a clash between Drugovich and Antonio Felix da Costa. On lap 26 Andretti’s Drugovich misjudged his braking into Turn 13 and rear-ended the Portuguese driver, which saw the Brazilian pit for a broken front wing, while Jaguar driver was able to continue with light damage.
Nico Muller, Porsche Formula E Team Porsche 99X Electric
Photo by: Mitsuaki Futori / Getty Images
Nyck de Vries headed Mahindra team-mate Edoardo Mortara for fifth and sixth respectively, with Envision’s Sebastien Buemi also getting by Da Costa in seventh, as Cupra Kiro’s Pepe Marti picked up his second points finish of the season in ninth.
2022-23 Formula E world champion Jake Dennis took the final point in 10th for Andretti, with defending champion Oliver Rowland down in 12th for Nissan. Cassidy also endured a low-key race, ending up 16th for Citroen.
Formula E heads to Jeddah for a double-header on 13-14 February.
Formula E – Miami E-Prix results
We want to hear from you!
Let us know what you would like to see from us in the future.
Take our survey
– The Autosport.com Team
Read the full article here