Mitch Evans' Drivers' World Championship challenge took a major hit in the SABIC London E-Prix Round 14, with inverter failure putting an end to what was shaping up to be a strong recovery drive.
The Kiwi had battled from 14th to fourth, and was crucially ahead of standings leader Stoffel Vandoorne, when, in TAG Heuer Added Time, his Jaguar began to falter, forcing him off down the escape road at Customs House and eventually out of the race with his car coming to a halt.
"I came out of the last corner and I noticed something wasn’t right with the power," 28-year-old. "Into Turn 1, I could just tell something wasn’t correct. I was managing it for a few laps but it eventually became terminal. We’ve had an inverter failure, which is heartbreaking.
Absolute heartbreak for @mitchevans_ in London.
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"Making 10 places up at a place like this is what we needed to do and it was a big shift again. It doesn’t mean much for now. I just feel very sorry for everyone in the team and we work really hard at this. Stoffel (Vandoorne) has a massive points advantage that we would have closed up slightly and taken that on to Seoul. It’s hard to put into words but what can you do."
That left Vandoorne to mop up with fourth himself, which extended his championship lead to 36 points. London could scarcely have been kinder to the Belgian, who could have things sewn up in Round 15 on Formula E's first visit to Seoul.