Formula E: race in Jakarta won by Mitch Evans

The very first Formula E race in Jakarta took place on a new track in a heat of 30 degrees and very high humidity, and it seemed that the DS Techeetah team was best adapted to this situation. According to the results of the qualifying, the riders occupied the entire front row and Jean-Eric Vergne took pole.

António Felix da Costa, his team-mate, started the race in second position, but Mitch Evans, a factory Jaguar team driver known for his aggressive style of fighting on the track, started third, so you could expect some attacking moves from him. in the first corners. Before the start, the New Zealander confirmed his confidence and fighting spirit and promised to fight for the win.

Before the race started, there was a moment of silence as everyone paid tribute to the memory of FIA Vice President José Abed, who passed away a few days ago.

Vergne held the lead at the start, da Costa started a little slower and Evans immediately tried to attack him, but the Portuguese fought back and the duo DS Techeetah led the race.

Behind the top five, Sebastien Buemi Stoffel Vandorn managed to outrun and slide into 6th, while Pascal Wehrlein broke straight from 11th to 8th. But the battle on the track was immediately neutralized – after two laps as a result of Oliver Rowland’s accident, an electric safety car left the track.

After one lap a restart was given and then da Costa made a small mistake, which Evans immediately took advantage and moved up to 2nd position.

On lap six, Vergne was able to dodge his pursuers a bit, Evans was a second behind, da Costa lost about the same amount, but Edoardo Mortara tried to push him.

On lap 9, Vergne was one of the first to activate attack mode, trailing all the top five except Mortara. But interestingly enough, the Venturi team’s Swiss rider simultaneously moved into 2nd position and managed to hold it, while Evans and da Costa, who pushed him, remained third and fourth respectively.

But Antonio soon decided to use attack mode for a second time, which required him to go off track into a special sector of Turn 16, costing him his position loss.

Then Mortara activated this mode, causing Jake Dennis to continue, but due to the increase in the strength of the British pilot, Andretti immediately outclassed several rivals. But it’s important that Jean-Eric Vergne lost the lead at this point for the first time since the start, as he also decided to use attack mode, which allowed him to quickly get back to first position and oust Evans.

As the race crossed the equator, the top five looked like this: Vergne took the lead, followed by Evans in just over a second, then Mortara, da Costa and Wehrlein, who significantly improved his position – we remember that he started 11th. Vandorn soon caught up with him, however, using the attack mode.

By the way, the Mercedes driver, leading in the individual classification, had one more “weapon”: according to the results of the vote of the fans, he was one of those who received the so-called Fan Boost, the possibility of a short-term increase in ability.

With just over ten minutes left in the race, Evans used attack mode for the last time, which allowed him to get close to Verne’s car. It was clear that it was them who would lead the battle for victory – they were both already three seconds ahead of the pack. At the same time, both were entitled to Fan Boost.

On lap 32, the New Zealander launched a decisive attack, confirming the promise made before the start of the race, and with a nice maneuver for Vergne. As the Frenchman later admitted, the Jaguar car was just a bit faster, as overheating the battery prevented it from squeezing everything he was theoretically capable of out of his Techeetah electric car.

There were only five minutes to go before the finish and both had 17% battery power at their disposal, so the odds were about even. Of course with the difference that Mitch was still in the lead and would not give up the position without a fight.

With four laps to go, Vergne activated Fan Boost mode, but the interval between the cars was over half a second, so the attack failed. Jean-Eric could only hope for Evans’ error, but he flew clear.

In fact Vergne spent the last two laps in constant attack attempts, trying to force Evans to make a mistake, and on a few occasions it even looked like he might take the lead but Mitch held his position. And at that point, Mortara had already caught up with them!

The battery charge of Vergne’s car dried up before our eyes, affecting the aggressive way he spent the last leg of the race, but literally in the last “drops” he still managed to reach the checkered flag and second position. to hold on.

And the race was won by Mitch Evans for his third win of the season. Admittedly, his position in the individual standings didn’t change at the same time, he stayed on the same fourth line, where he was before the Indonesian stage, but narrowed the leader’s gap to 12 points.

Stoffel Vandorn remained the championship leader and finished fifth today, but Jean-Eric Vergne, who finished second in Jakarta, moved up to second and is now just five points behind the Belgian.

Mortara, who also climbed the podium, fell to the 3rd line of the individual standings at the same time. But the battle escalates, the top four riders are only a dozen points apart, and already in the next phase of the electric series, to be held in Morocco on July 2, the balance of power is likely to change.