Mitch Evans created history for the Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team after he claimed the team’s first ever victory at the ABB FIA Formula E in Rome. The 24-year old Kiwi won the 7th round of the 2018/2019 ABB FIA Formula E Championship in Rome, Italy to continue his point scoring streak. After this win, Mitch moves up to the 4th position in the driver standings, and he is now just 4 points behind the current championship leader.
During the qualifying session, Mitch performed impressively to clinch the second position despite heavy rains. Mitch’s new teammate Alex claimed the 9th place during qualifying, before being penalised for exceeding the maximum power limit and then had to start from the 21st position. During the race, an early collision at turn 17/18 caused a huge pile-up of several cars and brought out a red flag. After the restart, Mitch drove confidently and managed to overtake Andre Lotterer with the Attack Mode at turn 11 for the lead of the race. Despite Lotterer activating the Attack Mode a lap later, the Kiwi driver defended well and held onto his first win in the Formula E series. The Panasonic Jaguar Racing team will now be preparing for the upcoming Paris E-Prix on the 27th of April.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKCl5b07AEg
James Barclay, Panasonic Jaguar Racing Team Director commented on this victory by saying: “Seeing Panasonic Jaguar Racing on the top of the podium is a fantastic moment and I’m so proud of all of the team – many of whom have been here since the beginning of season three when we first entered the championship. For a long time, we’ve been saying that we have a good racecar and that we have good pace, it was just about getting all of the pieces together and that was the difference today. It wasn’t easy, Mitch delivered two great qualifying laps and an excellent Super Pole lap to put us on the front row. We’ve shown that if we qualify well, we can deliver great results. Mitch delivered a really mature, world-class performance today. ”
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Mitch Evans truly savoured his victory, and this is what he said: “This feels beautiful. It was a fantastic race. The first few laps were tricky in the wet. After the red flag, I just wanted to stay steady. From early on I felt comfortable and my energy management was ahead of the target so we decided to use it when it mattered. I wanted to use Attack Mode when Lotterer didn’t have it to gain that power difference. We had a great pace from the beginning, so I really felt confident out there today. It’s been years since I had a win, so this really feels amazing. I’m so happy for the team, for everyone at Panasonic Jaguar Racing for all their hard work and to Jaguar Land Rover for their support over the past three seasons. This has really come at a great time.”
