Mitch Evans has hailed his maiden ABB FIA Formula E Championship race victory at last weekend's Rome E-Prix, securing his first career win since 2016 when driving in GP2.
The Jaguar Racing driver triumphed in a 45-minute + 1 lap street fight in the Italian capital, involved in a race-long duel with Andre Lotterer on the 2.870km-long Circuito Cittadino dell'EUR track.
After an impressive qualifying performance, Evans started from second for the race, and despite having a better getaway on the front row of the grid than polesitter Lotterer, followed the German DS Techeetah driver for most of the E-Prix.
Arming and deploying Attack Mode with just over 19-minutes of racing remaining to get a 12%, 25kW boost in power, Evans was able to dispatch of Lotterer, overtaking into Turn 11 with 15-minutes to go.
Carefully managing his energy usage and fending off two strong late-race charges from the trailing driver, Evans held on, taking his first race win since the 2016 GP2 Austria Feature Race when driving for Campos Racing while also delivering Jaguar with a breakthrough Formula E victory.
"This feels beautiful," said Evans after the chequered flag. "It was a fantastic race.
"The first few laps were tricky in the wet. After the red flag I just wanted to stay steady. From early on I felt comfortable and my energy management was ahead of target so we decided to use it when it mattered.
"I wanted to use Attack Mode when Lotterer didn’t have it to gain that power difference. We had great pace from the beginning, so I really felt confident out there.
"It’s been years since I had a win, so this really feels amazing. I’m so happy for the team, for everyone at Panasonic Jaguar Racing for all their hard work and to Jaguar Land Rover for their support over the past three seasons. This has really come at a great time."
By winning in Rome which marks the start of Formula E's European leg of the 2018/19 season, Evans became the all-electric single seater series' seventh different winner in as many races, jumping into fourth in the Drivers' Championship with 61 points as a result.
Formula E will return on April 27 for the Paris E-Prix.
