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news interview mitch evans jaguar tcs racing stagione 11

Mitch Evans recounts his brilliant last-to-first recovery drive in São Paulo

INTERVISTA 11 dic 2024 4 Min

Jaguar TCS Racing's Mitch Evans reflects on his incredible last-to-first Formula E win in São Paulo, Brazil.

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news interview mitch evans jaguar tcs racing stagione 11

Article by Katy Fairman

With two victories and three podiums in three Formula E seasons, it’s fair to say Mitch Evans likes racing in São Paulo. The Jaguar TCS Racing driver started Season 11 with a record-breaking victory from last on the grid, and put himself joint-top of the all-time winners list in the process.

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“Honestly, it's very hard to digest that one,” Evans said about winning the opening round of the GEN3 Evo era. “Starting from last I saw quite a bit, but I had an amazing first two laps as I made up 10 places. That really changed the dynamic of my race. Once Nick [Cassidy] kicked off the first ATTACK MODE mode, we could start to see how powerful that thing was. It was quite surprising.

“I was around [Cassidy], and then all of a sudden, he was in the lead. l was like, ‘okay, you have to use ATTACK MODE wisely’, because there's so much benefit of using it. I was just trying to be smart with that.

As part of GEN3 Evo, the quickest accelerating FIA single-seater and capable of 0-60mph in just 1.82 seconds, all-wheel drive is available to drivers when they take their mandatory ATTACK MODE boosts over the race distance. It’s a real game changer, and received fantastic feedback from the drivers.

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After a technical problem in qualifying saw him stop on track and fail to set a time, the Jaguar driver started the race from the very back of the grid. To go from last to first, Evans had to navigate a Safety Car and two red flags – the latter for a crash involving Evans’ Jaguar teammate Nick Cassidy and reigning World Champion Pascal Wehrlein (TAG Heuer Porsche). It was a scary shunt for pole-sitter Wehrlein, as he was flipped upside down in the incident just a few laps before the chequered flag. Both drivers were thankfully unhurt.

“The two interruptions really, they didn't change the dynamic, but I was always on the good side of it because my energy was always quite good. It’s good to see Pascal walk away from that nasty crash, but it was all about timing that second ATTACK MODE well.”

The race was restarted with three laps to go, with Evans’ needing to keep the Porsche of Antonio Felix da Costa behind.

“At the end with Antonio, I was really trying to hang on to the lead, because we still had to do quite a bit of energy management in the last few laps. Him being on my tow, he could have easily got a buffer on me, and it was tight. If it was any lower, I would have probably struggled to hang on to that.”

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When asked at what point he knew the victory was in the bag, Evans replied: “out of the last corner of the last lap! Literally a corner before I could have lost it, like I did last year, but a different way. It was so tight on energy.

“I knew I had it, you know, coming onto the main street for the last time before that, it was like ‘which way is this going to go?’ So if the target was a touch higher I would have been really confident, but it was really on the limit. It was honestly quite uncomfortable. So I just got it done.”

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Having won the São Paulo E-Prix in Season 9, Evans came incredibly close to consecutive wins in Season 10 but lost the lead after an outrageous last-lap overtake from NEOM McLaren’s Sam Bird. Now in Season 11, Evans is back on the top spot to start his season in the best way possible.

“It should have been three out of three [wins], which still hurts, but it's been a good place for me. It’s also nice to get those 25 points right away.”

No driver had won from anything lower than 15th on the starting grid in the 10 years of Formula E, but Evans has now put his and Jaguar’s name in the history books with that incredible performance.

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Evans also celebrated his 13th career victory, putting him equal at the top of the 'most wins' list with Envision Racing’s Sebastien Buemi and Lola Yamaha ABT’s Lucas di Grassi.

Most victories in Formula E: