JAKARTA, Indonesia — Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) fended off the close attention of Jean-Éric Vergne (DS TECHEETAH) and Edoardo Mortara (ROKiT Venturi Racing) to take his third victory of the Formula E season in Saturday’s inaugural Jakarta E-Prix.
The Kiwi made a late-race lunge that caught then-leader Vergne off-guard at turn seven on lap 31 in an opportunistic move from way back. From there, energy management became increasingly critical for the lead duo as they fought between themselves and against searing track temperatures at the Jakarta E-Prix Int’l Circuit in the exotic Ancol Beach resort.
That allowed Mortara to join the party as Evans and Vergne squabbled. Evans had some five minutes plus added time to hold the pair off, with the race anybody’s heading into the final turn and his rear tires fading fast.
Evans held on to lead Vergne and Mortara home as all three drivers finished within a second of each other.
“That was hard. I was just happy to be in it at the end,” Evans said. “We had a tough last race, and this track was similar with the climate being on another level. We put a lot of work into the set-up and the systems, but the team gave me what I need, gave me the goods.
“It was really tight at the end with JEV, I thought I was going to pull away but my tires started going off as soon as I got past him. I was under a bit of heat but we got the job done. This is what we needed.”
António Félix da Costa (DS TECHEETAH) slipped from second at the start to fourth come the checkered flag, with standings leader Stoffel Vandoorne (Mercedes-EQ) making three crucial passes through the race to wind up fifth and retain his Drivers’ World Championship advantage.
Grandstand seating was packed with thousands of fans, who cheered loudly as every car sped by throughout the race. More than 60,000 fans in total attended the Jakarta E-Prix and the festival in Ancol.