Autosport – 18 April 2019

FORMULA E ROME RACE CENTRE

18 APRIL 2019 AUTOSPORT.COM 31

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here must be something

in the Roman air that Mitch

Evans likes. He shone during

the ABB FIA Formula E

Champi0nship’s first visit

to the Italian capital last year before

dramatically running out of energy

late on. And this time he made history

for Jaguar with a first FE victory.

There was a second similarity between

the two Rome races. Not only was Evans

again in the thick of the action up front,

but he was also joined by Andre Lotterer,

who again eclipsed his DS Techeetah

team-mate Jean-Eric Vergne on his way to

a podium finish. But this time around it was

a gripping, gladiatorial two-chariot race.

While the race start was rather slippery

due to an earlier shower, the main action

was dry throughout. The same could not

be said of qualifying. Lotterer had topped

the group running, then the track – mainly

in the second sector – was doused ahead

of the superpole session. Sebastien Buemi

and Maximilian Gunther lost out by having

to run first, but Stoffel Vandoorne, Jose

Maria Lopez and Evans all subsequently

found lots of time as the track dried,

moving to the head of the order.

Then came Lotterer again. He looked to

be surging towards a maiden FE pole with

ease when it suddenly seemed to have gone

wrong. He slid wide at the Turn 13 hairpin,

but the triple Le Mans winner stayed on it

to wrestle pole from the jaws of (probably)

fourth on the grid with a superb charge

through the last sector.

Behind, the championship leaders –

Antonio Felix da Costa, Jerome d’Ambrosio,

Vergne, Sam Bird and Lucas di Grassi made

up the top five heading to Rome – were

T