Mitch Evans was delighted to come through a tough Marrakesh E-Prix with a third-place finish, with the heat in Morocco making it to difficult to manage energy levels.
The Jaguar TCS Racing driver was running fourth late in the race having been involved in the battle for the podium for much of the day. However, DS Techeetah’s Jean-Éric Vergne appeared to lose some pace on the final lap, which allowed Evans to get the jump on the Frenchman to take third.
Evans remains involved in the battle for the championship, sitting fifteen points behind Marrakesh race winner Edoardo Mortara heading into the final six races of the season in New York, London and Seoul.
“That was tough race to manage it threw everything at us – battery, thermal and energy wise,” said Evans. “Battling a lot with the other guys I lost a bit of ground at the start then made it back.
“The team guided me really well today. Jean-Éric Vergne struggled towards the end and we picked him off in the final lap. It was hard to manage but we got there – another podium, lots of points and another trophy.”
“When you qualify P13 it is difficult to do anything better” – Sam Bird
Team-mate Sam Bird finished ninth in Marrakesh, but the Briton knows that Qualifying thirteenth was always going to make finishing higher difficult.
The Briton, who has just six races remaining this season to maintain his record of winning at least one race in every ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season, felt his race pace was good on Saturday, but he had little chance of scoring a better result due to his Qualifying result.
Bird hopes to improve his performance in Qualifying in the next round of the season in New York, a venue where he took a victory last season.
“Ninth in Marrakesh is not where I want to be but I am trying my best,” said Bird. “Our race pace was good but when you qualify P13 it is difficult to do anything better.
“I have a great team, we will keep pushing and see what we can do to improve in NYC where I took the win last year.”
