Mitch Evans: “The overall car and team performance won me the race today”

Mitch Evans was delighted to take his first victory of the 2021-22 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship season on Saturday as he climbed from ninth on the grid to take the chequered flag first in race one of the Rome E-Prix.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver had been disappointed to miss out on making the duels in Qualifying earlier in the day after encountering traffic on his final run, but he did not let that put him off as he pulled off overtake after overtake to take the lead by lap eighteen.

Evans was even able to slow towards the end to prevent an additional lap being added to the race distance, with the New Zealander closing out the race over five seconds ahead of closest rival Robin Frijns.

“The overall car and team performance won me the race today,” said Evans.  “The whole team have been working incredibly hard in the gap after Mexico to secure us the win today.

“The car was quick in qualifying today but we made the wrong call which saw us just miss out on the Duels. To win here again in Rome is such a great feeling and I’m so proud of everyone.

“A huge thanks to all the guys and girls at Jaguar TCS Racing and hopefully we can do the same thing again tomorrow.”

“The performance was clearly there throughout the race” – Sam Bird

Team-mate Sam Bird also made gains during the race after only qualifying thirteenth, with the British racer moving all the way to fifth at the chequered flag.

Bird also encountered traffic during Qualifying to leave him well outside of the top four in his group, and it made for a much more difficult race than he would have hoped to have.

However, he was pleased with the performance of his car, and it gave him the confidence to attack and climb through the field to score ten valuable points towards the championship.

“All of the team at Jaguar TCS Racing gave us an incredible Jaguar I-TYPE 5 to drive today,” said Bird. “The performance was clearly there throughout the race and it’s great to have climbed to fifth to secure valuable points for the team.

“We go again tomorrow.”

Sam Bird climbed from thirteenth to fifth on Saturday in Rome – Credit: Andrew Ferraro / LAT Images