MADRID — Antonio Felix da Costa produced PIT BOOST perfection on the way to the win in Formula E’s first race in Madrid, heading home teammate Mitch Evans for a Jaguar TCS Racing one-two — narrowly ahead of Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein.
The grandstands and verges were packed to capacity around Circuito de Madrid Jarama, and fans — as well as King Felipe VI, who was also in attendance — were treated to an instant classic of a race with da Costa leading Evans, Wehrlein and CUPRA KIRO’s Ticktum across the line with less than a second between them.
Da Costa had started third and was first to jump into the pits for his stop on Lap 12. He pushed through the laps to take ATTACK MODE late on — matching up those around him out-front as the PIT BOOST stops shook out.
That teed up a real sprint to the finish with da Costas mirrors full of the fast-charging CUPRA KIRO of Ticktum on home soil for the Spanish car brand.
The Brit made a stunning move stick around the outside of Wehrlein as the top four jostled on Lap 21 for second, with Evans following for P3 at the final chicane.
Evans then spotted his chance to go and sliced by Ticktum to take the fight for victory to teammate da Costa.
The Kiwi thought the win was his, but he couldn’t quite make a move stick with da Costa placing his Jaguar in all the right places to hold on to the flag to seal back-to-back victories with his new team.
Wehrlein pipped Ticktum to third as the KIRO driver made a last-ditch move on the Jaguars – Ticktum and CUPRA KIRO would still be mighty pleased with fourth.
Edoardo Mortara (Mahindra) rounded fifth with the outfit looking strong on pace – teammate Nyck de Vries compromised his own front-running race through a shunt with Wehrlein that was later penalised.
Sebastien Buemi (Envision Racing) wound up sixth after a late charge. Jake Dennis (Andretti) and Nico Mueller (Porsche) came home seventh and eighth with Pepe Marti – an early race leader much to the joy of the Spanish crowd – bagging points with ninth. Joel Eriksson (Envision Racing) completed the top 10.
