Evans comes from 17th on the grid to win Formula E's Berlin E-Prix
- Vyas Ponnuri
- 2 hours ago
- 5 min read
Jaguar's Mitch Evans delivered yet another epic comeback drive, his second in three races, but this time it was good enough to take a second race victory of the season. "Patience, man... patience," he would reveal as he crossed the line, executing the perfect mantra to take victory in Berlin.
Nissan's Oliver Rowland too came from 18th on the grid to take second, while pole-sitter Pascal Wehrlein took a crucial third, and ensured Porsche left Berlin with plenty to celebrate.
Envision Racing's Sébastien Buemi climbed up nine positions to finish fourth, while Rowland's teammate Norman Nato ascended 11 places to finish fifth. Andretti scored points with both drivers for the first time in Season 12, as Jake Dennis took sixth on the road, while Felipe Drugovich scored his first points of the season in ninth.
Mahindra's Edoardo Mortara concluded an up-and-down race with seventh, ahead of Citroën's Jean-Éric Vergne, while Buemi's teammate Joel Eriksson rounded out the points in 10th.
AS IT HAPPENED - Round 8 at Berlin
Wehrlein started the 37-lap Berlin E-Prix from pole, ahead of DS Penske's Taylor Barnard and Citroën's Nick Cassidy.
Barnard's teammate Max Günther received a three-place grid drop for impeding Dennis during the qualifying session, and started 14th on the grid, as a result.
Off the five red lights, the drivers managed to get through the opening corner without incident, with Wehrlein holding on to his lead, with the top three staying intact.
However, heading onto the following lap, the pole-sitter dropped multiple positions, looking to preserve energy by staying in the pack. This meant Barnard led the race ahead of Cassidy and Vergne.
Among the biggest gainers on the grid was Mahindra's Nyck de Vries, who had climbed six positions to sit third, while teammate Mortara sat fourth at the end of Lap 2. The duo would swap positions the following lap, although the Envision Racing of Buemi would make up several positions, sitting second behind race leader Cassidy.
A driver who had lost positions off the start was Lola's Zane Maloney, who dropped from sixth to 10th on the first lap, before losing stabilising his position.
de Vries, though, wouldn't remain in the top 10 for long, as he made contact with Cassidy heading into Turns 6 and 7, slowing down the Citroën man's progress. The Dutchman would pull into the pits with damage to his Mahindra, though.
It would quickly be an Envision 1-2 onto Lap 6, as Joel Eriksson took over the lead from Buemi. Cassidy's race would go from bad to worse, though, as he made contact with the Envision racer on Lap 7, damaging his front wing and going around an entire lap at slow speed. With a pit stop to replace the front wing, it put paid to his race.
Mortara led the race on Lap 9 as the pack shuffled once again, with home hero Günther ahead of Wehrlein, with no driver taking their first of two attack modes yet.
At one-third distance, Eriksson led the race from Buemi, with Günther sitting third. Among the biggest movers on the grid was Nissan's Oliver Rowland, who had a slow getaway, but had made his way upto sixth on the grid.
With two percent more energy compared to those ahead, he would be one to watch for, in the fight for victory.
Maloney was the first driver to take attack mode, activating extra power for two minutes, while Vergne followed him in on Lap 15. Both drivers moved into the top 10, with Felipe Drugovich and Norman Nato then taking four minutes of attack mode each.
Utilising his energy advantage to the front runners, Rowland grabbed the race lead onto Lap 18, before Vergne managed to take the race lead by utilising his attack mode activation.
Onto Lap 20, it was Vergne leading, while Nato had made his way up to second using attack mode, just ahead of teammate Rowland. Utilising his full extent of attack mode, Nato managed to open up a two-second gap to the rest, putting his name into the contenders for race victory.
da Costa and Wehrlein utilised their attack modes to climb up to the front of the field by Lap 23, closing the gap to race leader Nato to 1.5 seconds.
Championship leader Mortara, meanwhile, had dropped down to 17th, losing out to other drivers in attack mode. Utilising four minutes of attack mode, the Swiss driver began to climb back up the order, passing Maloney and Drugovich along the way.
Evans would take over the race lead with 10 laps to go, managing to overhaul Nato's advantage, as Mortara climbed back upto 10th. The Jaguar man had managed to open up a 1.5 second gap at the front, though, clearing the competition as the race began to heat up.
Wehrlein, using his second attack mode, now emerged as the biggest challenger to Evans for victory, as he reduced the gap with five laps to go.
With his second attack mode, Evans would have a chance to reclaim the lead once again, as he would have an extra minute of advantage over Wehrlein. However, both drivers would have to watch out for Rowland, who had over two minutes of attack mode to go.
Evans would claim the race lead into Turn 9 on Lap 33, using his extra power to the best effect. The Porsche man then would then lose second position to Rowland on the main straight.
Championship leader Mortara had managed to recover to fifth using his attack mode, but lost out to a charging Nato and Dennis in attack mode, just as a Full Course Yellow was called out with two laps to go. The reason was debris on the main straight, with Müller and da Costa making contact as they attempted to battle.
Racing action resumed with two laps to go, as Rowland and Evans scrapped for race victory. Wehrlein and Buemi had closed up with one lap to go, making it a four-way tie for victory. Evans, though, was able to hold on as the drivers rounded the final sector, coming across the line to take his second race win of Season 12.
Rowland would take a second successive podium, while Wehrlein's third position finish meant he reclaimed the championship lead from Mortara, who only finished seventh on the road.
A closely-fought race, with Evans' patience seeing him win from 17th, and here's how the order stood after 37 laps of racing.
Classification - Round 8 (Berlin E-Prix)
Mitch Evans (Jaguar)
Oliver Rowland (Nissan)
Pascal Wehrlein (Porsche)
Sébastien Buemi (Envision Racing)
Norman Nato (Nissan)
Jake Dennis (Andretti)
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra Racing)
Jean-Éric Vergne (Citroën Racing)
Felipe Drugovich (Andretti)
Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing)
Taylor Barnard (DS Penske)
Pepe Martí (Cupra Kiro)
Nico Müller (Porsche)
Dan Ticktum (Cupra Kiro)
Max Günther (DS Penske)
Lucas di Grassi (Lola Yamaha ABT)
Zane Maloney (Lola Yamaha ABT)
António Félix da Costa (Jaguar)
Nick Cassidy (Citroën Racing) - DNF
Nyck de Vries (Mahindra Racing) - DNF
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