Jaguar driver Mitch Evans claimed an unlikely Formula E win from 17th on the grid in Sunday’s Berlin E-Prix, while Pascal Wehrlein finished third to retake the points lead.
Having missed out on the duels in what appeared to be a tactical move, Evans bided his time in the early phases of the race, with Saturday’s opener proving that conserving energy at the back would pay dividends later on.
Although he spent a major chunk of the race outside the top 15, he quickly moved to the front after arming his first attack mode, taking the lead on lap 25 of 37.
He eventually crossed the line eight tenths clear of Nissan e.Dams’s Oliver Rowland to claim his second win of the 2025-26 season, as Wehrlein rounded out the podium positions for Porsche.
At the start of the race, Wehrlein pulled away cleanly from pole position but relinquished the lead soon after, putting Taylor Barnard at the front of the field on lap 2. However, the lead continued to change hands in the opening-thirds of the race, with Nick Cassidy, Edoardo Mortara, Sebastien Buemi and Joel Eriksson all taking turns at the front.
The top 18 cars were separated by just four seconds after lap 14, as a typical pack-style contest ensued at Berlin Tempelhof before the first attack mode cycle.
By lap 18, Rowland had surged to the front of the field, despite a poor launch from the penultimate row of the grid.
Pascal Wehrlein, Porsche Formula E Team
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
A definite order began to emerge on lap 25, when Evans hit the front with attack mode after saving as much as 4% energy over his rivals.
The final 12 laps featured a three-race horse for victory, with Evans, Rowland and Wehrlein pulling away from the chasing pack.
Wehrlein initially grabbed the lead after arming his second attack mode, but Evans pulled off what appeared to be the decisive move with four laps to run en route to a record-extending 16th Formula E win.
Shortly afterwards, Rowland also demoted Wehrlein at the start/finish straight amid a debris warning on track, but escaped investigation to claim a double podium over the Berlin weekend.
Third-place for Wehrlein put him back at the top of the leaderboard, with Evans moving up to second after overnight leader Mortara could only muster seventh in his Mahindra.
Nissan driver Norman Nato secured his best result of the season in fifth with a similar strategy to team-mate Rowland, with Jake Dennis bagging another solid haul of points for Andretti in sixth ahead of Mortara.
Oliver Rowland, Nissan Formula E Team
Photo by: Joe Portlock / Getty Images
Jean-Eric Vergne was classified eighth in the sole-surviving Citroen, with Andretti’s Felipe Drugovich scoring his first points of the year in ninth ahead of Envision’s Erikson.
Saturday winner Nico Muller (Porsche) finished outside the points in 13th after a late collision with Jaguar driver Antonio Felix da Costa that triggered the only full-course yellow period of the weekend.
Citroen star Cassidy was eliminated from contention after being involved in two incidents early in the race. The Kiwi was forced out wide by Mahindra driver Nyck de Vries at Turn 6-7 on lap 4, a move that dropped him outside of the top 10. While trying to recover lost ground, he came to blows with Envision driver Buemi, with the impact forcing an unscheduled pitstop for a change of front wings.
De Vries was the only other retiree from the race, with the incident with Cassidy leaving him with terminal damage.
Formula E Berlin – Race 2 results
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– The Autosport.com Team
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