Evans Beats Vergne To Win Inaugural Jakarta E-Prix
Calum Gill 10:17 04/06/2022
Mitch Evans pulled a bold move on Jean-Éric Vergne late on to emerge victorious from Formula E’s inaugural Jakarta E-Prix in Indonesia.
DS Techeetah locked out the front row after Vergne claimed a record 15th pole position and António Félix da Costa earned his best qualifying result of the season. Jaguar’s Evans started in third place but that soon became second when da Costa made a mistake and ran wide at Turn 7, allowing Evans to break up the DS Techeetah one-two. Evans took his two attack modes later than Vergne and set about chasing down the two-time champion in the closing stages of the race. The Kiwi caught Vergne and chucked it down the inside at the Turn 7 left-hander to take the race lead with just under 10 minutes of the race remaining. The two were separated by little over the remainder of the race with Vergne unsuccessfully looking for a way back through.
But he had to turn his attention to Edoardo Mortara in the closing two laps as the Venturi-Mercedes driver almost pipped Vergne to second place. Neither could prevent Evans from taking his third victory of the season to close on the top three in the championship - including Vergne and Mortara who completed the podium. Da Costa matched his best result of the season in fourth place ahead of Mercedes EQ driver Stoffel Vandoorne who hangs onto his now reduced championship lead. Jake Dennis earned his best result since a podium at the season-opening weekend in sixth place for Avalanche Andretti, while Venturi’s Lucas di Grassi moved from 10th to seventh place.
Sam Bird once again struggled to match his Jaguar team-mate but did secure his fourth points finish of the season. Sébastien Buemi converted his season-best grid spot of sixth place to a 10th-place finish as he begins his final stretch of races with the Nissan e.dams team. A five-second time penalty cost André Lotterer points, and he finished in 11th place ahead of NIO 333’s Oliver Turvey, Andretti's Oliver Askew and Nissan e.dams' Maximilian Günther. Alexander Sims came home 15th for Mahindra, followed by Envision pair Nick Cassidy and Robin Frijns - Frijns qualifying last after failing to set a time in the group stage. NIO 333 rookie Dan Ticktum was 18th.
Formula 1 convert Antonio Giovinazzi collided with his Dragon Penske team-mate Sérgio Sette Camara on the opening lap and was running ahead of the Brazilian before an over-aggressive energy strategy failed to pay dividends and led to him running out of energy. Sette Camara was 19th and last at the chequered flag. Nyck de Vries’ chances of defending his Formula E title took a potentially fatal blow as the Mercedes EQ driver retired late on with a puncture while fighting for the final point with Lotterer, hence the five-second time penalty for the latter. Oliver Rowland retired early on after his left front wheel departed from his Mahindra, causing the only safety car of the race.
