Mitch Evans overtakes both Antonio Felix da Costa and Jean-Eric Vergne to take a spectacular victory at the Formula E Jakarta debut
Mitch Evans (Jaguar) defeats Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Techeetah; 2nd) with a strong overtaking manoeuvre at the Jakarta E-Prix to take his third win of the 2022 Formula E season.
The New Zealander broke into the DS Techeetah phalanx early in the race. Antonio Felix da Costa (DS Techeetah; 4th) helped him with a braking error on lap 4, forcing the Portuguese to adjust the brake balance on the instructions of his race engineer.
Evans thus got into attacking position with Vergne. Both exchanged places several times by activating the attack mode at different times. On the second activation, the Kiwi waited longer than the Frenchman, giving him a window to attack for the lead.
By the time Vergne’s attack mode had been used up, Evans was within half a second of the two-time champion. Then, on lap 32, he stabbed inside at turn 7 and came out of the corner in the lead.
Evans was unable to pull away because his rear tyres were degrading and because he had to manage his time. An early safety car period, triggered by a tyre loss on Oliver Rowland (Mahindra; DNF), gave him an extra 1:30 minutes.
WHAT A MOVE from @mitchevans_
He swoops down the inside of @JeanEricVergne for the lead in Jakarta!
LIVE timing https://t.co/UA9ig2D3Mc
2022 JakartaEPrix pic.twitter.com/FhsyJaftQ6
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) June 4, 2022
This brought Edoardo Mortara (Venturi; 3rd) into play as well as Vergne. The Swiss drove anti-cyclically in attack mode and was thus in the lead for a while during the race.
Actually, most of the drivers were keen to get through the 250-kilowatt mode, which had to be used twice, as quickly as possible because the batteries were even cooler at that point in the heat race near the equator. Mortara, however, again made use of the strategy he had already employed in Berlin.
Vandoorne misses attack mode
So a group of three battled for victory in the final two laps. Although Vergne seized the fan boost, it was only enough for half-hearted attacks on the leader. The extra boost also cost extra energy, so Vergne had to concentrate more on fending off Mortara in the final corners.
Fourth went to Antonio Felix da Costa, who was never able to get involved in the fight for the lead. He drove in front of Mortara for a short time after he had activated his last attack mode, but had to let him go again quickly. At the finish, he was more than two seconds behind the podium.
We’re back racing! @mitchevans_ immediately makes a move up into P2, following this double lock up from the @DSTECHEETAH drivers
LIVE timing https://t.co/UA9ig2D3Mc
2022 JakartaEPrix pic.twitter.com/0Ows30jP5t
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (@FIAFormulaE) June 4, 2022
He initially battled with Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes; 5th) until the latter made life difficult for himself. The ex-Formula 1 driver missed the activation loops and therefore had to go through the activation zone an extra time, which cost him time. He managed to catch up with the Belgian again, but it was not enough for an attack.
Jake Dennis (Andretti) was sixth, followed by Lucas di Grassi (Venturi; 7th), who both crossed the finish line in the “Da Costa train”. Eighth place went to Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche). The latter was initially able to make up places after his grid penalty, but in the second half of the race he lacked firepower. He lost positions to Dennis and di Grassi.
Sam Bird (Jaguar) inherited ninth place because Andre Lotterer (Porsche; 11th) received a five-second penalty for a collision with Nyck de Vries (Mercedes; DNF) that put the reigning champion out of the race with a puncture.
Sebastien Buemi (Nissan e.dams; 10th) was flushed into the points as a result of the Lotterer penalty, while the Porsche driver came away empty-handed despite crossing the line in ninth place.
