Mitch Evans went on the win the 2024 São Paulo E‑Prix after starting from the back of the grid, sealing a remarkable comeback for Jaguar TCS Racing, as the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship got underway in thrilling style.
The New Zealander, taking his thirteenth Formula E victory with the team, became the first driver in the championship’s history to win a race from the last position on the grid at the start. Mitch also now equals Lucas di Grassi and Sébastien Buemi as the drivers with the most wins since Formula E began in 2014.
The incredibly dramatic race followed a challenging first qualifying session of the season in which Nick Cassidy narrowly missed out on the Duels by a tenth of a second – meaning he started the race in tenth. Separately, a technical problem for Mitch prevented him from setting a lap time in Group B and, consequently, a race-starting position down in twenty-second place!
At lights‑out, the new All-Wheel Drive launch saw both drivers deliver a positive first lap, with Nick moving up one place and Mitch progressing to P15 with an incredible five-car overtake in turn four. Despite a brief period under the Safety Car on Lap 3, both drivers continued to make strong progress through the field. Executing Attack Mode early to climb up the order, Nick managed to take the lead of the race on Lap 8, and Mitch ran as high as third by the halfway point.
A red flag on Lap 21 brought all drivers back into the pit lane, pausing the race. Upon restarting, Nick was in P6 and Mitch in P10, with a second Attack Mode still to go. After taking his, Nick quickly moved up the order and closed in on the race lead, taking back first place on Lap 28 once Nissan’s Oliver Rowland pitted to serve a drive-through penalty. Mitch had jumped up to second by this stage making it a Jaguar TCS Racing one-two, and with some of his Attack Mode remaining, he overtook Nick to take first place.
As the field bunched together, Nick was then sandwiched between DS Penske’s Maximilian Günther and Porsche’s Pascal Wehrlein, the impact breaking his I‑TYPE 7’s steering. On the following corner Nick was then a passenger and unable to avoid a further impact with Wehrlein, which saw the Porsche driver’s car flip over, spectacularly bringing out another red flag. It was an accident that brought the entire paddock to a standstill with audible gasps up and down the pit wall whilst people enquired as to whether last year’s champion was OK. “Red flag, Red flag!!”, Pascal Wehrlein could be heard screaming down his team radio – audibly in a state of panic. His wish was instantly granted.
Nick Cassidy said, “First of all, I’m relieved to know Pascal is ok. That’s the most important thing. I felt like I was a passenger as I had no steering. Obviously, it’s terrible for him and for me, but I’m really glad to know he’s ok. As for the race before then, I approached today in a different way than I ever have in Formula E, and I think it worked for me. I’ve come off the lessons I’ve learned from last year. There’s a new group of people on my car and they’ve done a really, really solid job to put us in the box seat again.”
When the race restarted again, an amazing effort from Jaguar TCS Racing’s mechanics meant Nick was able to return to the race, albeit in 15th place, only to be forced into retirement with a lap remaining.
Up front, having taken the lead on the restart, Mitch defended his position in an incredibly intense final four laps, securing the Jaguar TCS Racing #9 driver’s second victory in São Paulo.
Mitch rounded off the weekend by saying, “I am still trying to process this one – it was a crazy race. I made up ten places on the first lap and found myself in the mix quite quickly. After that my focus definitely shifted to getting some big points and possibly a podium, so to come away with a win is incredible. I had some good fortune out there with the red flags, and obviously, it was great to see Pascal walk away from that accident, but we managed the strategy really well and the team guided me through, so credit to everyone at Jaguar TCS Racing – that was a sweet one.”
Mitch Evans leads the Drivers’ World Championship with 25 points, with teammate Nick Cassidy in 16th, whilst Jaguar TCS Racing is currently positioned second in the Teams’ World Championship.
Round 2 of the 2024/25 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship takes place in Mexico City on the 11thof January 2025
