Mitch Evans defeated reigning series champion Oliver Rowland in an extreme power saving race at the Berlin E-Prix.
Evans, who had announced he would be leaving the Jaguar team after 10 seasons at the end of this campaign and joining Opel, was among several drivers who deliberately fell behind the leading group in the early stages of the race, as the peloton cruised at double-digit pace, trying to conserve as much energy as possible.
He had the most energy on the field at the midpoint and maintained his energy advantage while working the field.
A late yellow intervention for debris (a piece of the front wing of Nico Mueller’s Porsche after contact with Antonio Félix da Costa’s Jaguar) set up a late sprint to the finish at full speed, with the leading trio of Evans, Oliver Rowland and Pascal Wehrlein monopolizing the battle for the podium (but never close enough to swap positions).
The end of Rowland’s career was briefly shrouded in controversy, as he was under suspicion of passing Wehrlein under yellow flags for the Mueller debris.
Wehrlein, a third-place finisher, hinted after the race that his team believed he should move up to second place. However, stewards cleared Rowland as the flag used at the time was a slippery surface yellow and red flag, and The Race understands that while onboard footage created the illusion that it was an all-yellow flag on the main straight light panel, this was not in fact the case (which is corroborated by certain frames of the footage).
Wehrlein leaves Berlin as the leader of the championship, after regaining the lead from Edo Mortara, who did not score on Sunday. Evans is second, three points behind Wehrlein and five ahead of Mortara.
Sebastien Buemi (Envision) placed fourth, ahead of Norman Nato (Nissan), who led the race by several seconds at the start.
Seventeen finalists were separated by 15 seconds at the end, being the odd ones out Da Costa (who apparently suffered a puncture after contact with Dennis), Nick Cassidy (who broke a front wing in contact with Buemi) and Nyck de Vries (who retired with a damaged suspension after a four-on-one mayhem with Buemi, Cassidy and teammate Mortara).
Race results
1Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
2Oliver Rowland (Nissan) +0.822s
3Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche) +1,111s
4 Sébastien Buemi (Envision) +1,639s
5 Norman NATO (Nissan) +4.424s
6Jake Dennis (Andretti) +5.940s
7Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) +6.325s
8 Jean-Eric Vergne (Citroën) +7,604s
9 Felipe Drugovich (Andretti) +8.491s
10Joel Eriksson (Vision) +8.965s
11 Taylor Barnard (DS Penske) +10.216s
12 Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro) +11,712s
13 Nico Müller (Porsche) +12.747s
14 Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro) +13.212s
15 Max Günther (DS Penske) +14.774s
16 Lucas Di Grassi (Lola Yamaha Abt) +14.873s
17 Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha Abt) +15.342s
18 Antonio Félix da Costa (Jaguar) +36.559s
DNF Nick Cassidy (Citroën)
DNF Nyck de Vries (Mahindra)
