Mitch Evans was unable to make it a hat trick of victories in Saturday’s Monaco E-Prix, but the New Zealander was still pleased to leave the principality with a pole position and a second-place finish.
Having won both races in the Rome E-Prix, the Jaguar TCS Racing driver stormed to pole position on Saturday, beating Pascal Wehrlein in the final of the Qualifying duels. He led the early laps despite struggling with energy consumption and was involved in the lead battle throughout.
Evans admitted the struggles with his energy usage made it a much difficult race than he was hoping for, but he was still delighted with the podium that moves him up to second place in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship Drivers’ standings.
“I really wanted to win today after starting on Pole position,” said Evans, who ended up just 1.285 seconds behind race winner Stoffel Vandoorne at the chequered flag. “We had an incredibly efficient race car in Rome and I was hoping we’d replicate that here in Monaco.
“Unfortunately we couldn’t convert into a win today as we were struggling with energy but second is still really great points for me and for the team.”
“Today wasn’t my day” – Sam Bird
Whereas Evans was a contender for the win, team-mate Sam Bird was an early retiree in Monaco, with the British racer coming out worse after early contact that broke his suspension.
Having missed the duels by the narrowest of margins, Bird was left to start thirteenth on the grid thanks to the three-place grid penalty carried over from the Rome E-Prix, and a sluggish start left him down in seventeenth on lap one.
He found himself embroiled in the battles towards the rear of the field but broke his track rod after just thirteen minutes, leaving him in the pits and out of the race.
“Today wasn’t my day,” said Bird. “I unfortunately had a small bit of contact and broke my track rod.
“I need to go away now, reset and come back stronger in Berlin.”
