FIA Formula E World Championship Rome, 9-10 April 2022

In what would be a successful weekend for the New Zealand driver, Mitch Evans started ninth on the grid for the first of a double-header in the Italian capital.

Race one

By overtaking both Porsches, the Kiwi immediately gained two places off the line. Following the deployment of the safety car due to an incident, Evans continued to carve his way through the field, making some impressive overtaking manoeuvres.

With fourteen minutes to go, Mitch overtook Robin Frijns in the Envision Racing car to take the lead. The New Zealander finished the race 5.7 seconds ahead of the rest of the field, taking his second victory in Rome following his first three years ago. “The overall car and team performance won me the race today,” said Evans after the race. “The whole team have been working incredibly hard to secure us the win today. To win here again in Rome is such a great feeling and I’m so proud of everyone. A huge thanks to all the guys and girls at Jaguar Racing and hopefully we can do the same thing again tomorrow.”

Evan’s teammate Sam Bird executed a stellar race by carving eight places through the field to finish in fifth, securing valuable points for the team. Sam encountered bodywork and wheel rim damage during the race but still managed to show the superior race pace of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5 throughout the 50 minute plus one lap race.

Race two

Evans and Bird lined up fourth and fifth on the grid respectively for the second Rome ePrix held the following day.

In the first ten minutes of the race, Mitch Evans made a decisive overtake on Jake Dennis to move into a podium position. He continued to execute a flawless drive, overtaking André Lotterer (Porsche) and Jean-Éric Vergne (DS Techeetah) to take the lead. The New Zealander tussled with the front runners for a number of laps before a late safety car was deployed. A good power efficiency enabled Evans to regain the lead of the race and take back-to-back victories on the streets of Rome.

Evans became the first driver to win both races in a double-header weekend in Rome and only the third in Formula E history to win an ePrix on two consecutive days. Bird also had a strong, if unlucky, race and was set to score more valuable points for the team. However, a collision while battling for position with Envision Racing’s Nick Cassidy forced him to retire in the final lap.

“Weekends like this are incredibly hard to achieve,” said Jaguar Racing’s team principal, James Barclay, “but it’s down to the huge effort from all of the team to deliver this historic weekend for Jaguar. Rome has been kind to us with five podiums and three wins in three years and it’s great to have our season back on track after such a strong performance from Mitch and the team. We know how competitive this championship is so we’ll take this momentum forward from Rome, keep working hard and keep building on our championship in Monaco.

Thanks to his double victory, Mitch Evans moves to fourth in the drivers’ standings, only nine points behind the leader, while Sam Bird sits in eleventh. Jaguar Racing move to fifth in the FIA Formula E World Championship teams’ standings.