A Mitch Evans masterclass secured the Jaguar TCS Racing driver and his engineer Alan Cocks the ABB Engineered to Outrun Award at the CUPRA Raval Madrid E-Prix.
Being the second driver in a team one-two finish is always slightly bittersweet but given Evans started this race back in 16th, finishing second behind Antonio Felix da Costa was a result and a performance to be proud of.
REPORT: Da Costa heads Jaguar one-two in breathless CUPRA RAVAL Madrid E-Prix
Evans and Cocks mapped out a clear strategy for this race that paid dividends as Evans waited patiently to get a few critical laps in clear air and unleash an energy advantage in two stages. He actually went slightly backwards to eventually move forwards as Evans ran 17th early on and built a 3% battery advantage versus the typical state of charge for other cars in the field. This was the weapon with which Evans could fight in the second half of the race. But he still needed to use it effectively, and there was a critical second strategic aspect beyond just saving energy.
The Madrid E-Prix was a PIT BOOST race, meaning a mandatory stop for all. The lead cars started to dive in to recharge from the end of lap 10 but Evans stayed out longer than them - several laps longer. This gave him an opportunity to run in clear air and unleash more pace.
From laps 12 to 14, Evans clearly pushed more. His average speed crept up more than 3km/h a lap and he set a new highest speed 10km/h faster than anything he had done previously - Evans was on the move. Doing this while running freely in front meant Evans was able to execute a lovely ‘overcut’: running longer than others and then getting ahead of them by being faster in the laps after their pitstop. When he rejoined from his PIT BOOST stop, Evans had leapt 10 positions to run seventh.
It teed up the aggressive second half of his race perfectly. Some rival ATTACK MODE activations meant he did briefly fall to ninth but a retaliatory charge was always on the cards as Evans still maintained his 3% battery advantage. It was just a question of using it.
As it happened, the ATTACK MODE phase was not critical for him insofar as having the power boost and four-wheel-drive when others didn’t. Evans actually made good progress when others were still in ATTACK MODE, he was just able to exploit it more.
His average speeds hit a new peak as he chased after the lead cars and it was in the very last laps that Evans made his advantage count most. He set the highest speed of the race on lap 21 at 248km/h and in his last five laps used more battery per lap than eventual winner Felix da Costa – despite actually having the second lowest peak battery use all race.
The end of his late charge was most impressive, with a nice decisive move on the inside of Pascal Wehrlein into the final chicane, and then a very finely judged pass on the outside of Dan Ticktum to take second.
There was still time, and enough of an energy advantage, to launch an attack on his team-mate for the win, too. Evans was frustrated by a team call to hold position but gave it a go nonetheless. It didn’t pay off and he had to accept second - but to even be in a place to go for the win on the last lap was testament to an excellent drive in the first place.
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