When Envision Racing's Nick Cassidy finished 21st in both Free Practice 1 and 2 earlier today, he probably didn't think he'd be lifting the Monaco winners trophy a few hours later. The Kiwi driver is on a roll, with back-to-back wins, and confessed his win today would take a while to "sink in".
"We had such a tough day," he said after winning the special Monaco E-Prix. "We were struggling a lot. I qualified ninth and was happy with that. Credit to our guys; everyone in our garage jumped into my car to help with the issues. I'm so happy this reward is here after that work."
Cassidy now takes the lead in the Drivers' World Championship, and Envision Racing stormed to top the Teams' Standings after today's race.
"There's a long way to go. This guy, Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing), showed today how strong he is. So it's going to be a really cool fight. But for the moment, let's enjoy the fact we won in Monaco.
"I led too early and was too aggressive at points. I am still developing my craft. These guys in the top three are as well. It got to a stage where I knew we were fighting Mitch and Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) for the win. But how do you position yourself? What moves do you make? And how do you see it playing out? We saw the end result of the last three laps, but that's the work done from 20 laps ago in this category. I'm enjoying it at the moment."
The ABT CUPRA of Nico Mueller had a clash with Jaguar's Sam Bird in the race's final moments, meaning it ended under Safety Car. However, that didn't detract from a memorable race with 116 overtakes!
"I just really want to enjoy this moment. I didn't get to in Berlin. I got on the flight, stopped by Munich and then looked out the window at the rain. That was not the best celebration, so we'll do something better here."
Cassidy now leads this championship by 21 points and joins the likes of Bruce McLaren (1962) and Denny Hulme (1967) as a New Zealander to win a World Championship race in Monaco. It's also the fourth victory for a Kiwi in Formula E but a fourth consecutive win for a Jaguar powertrain.