Jaguar TCS Racing driver Mitch Evans took third place podium in Round 14 of the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Portland, moving him into second place in the drivers’ standings.
A multiple car concertina incident during the race involving his teammate Nick Cassidy resulted in a front wing change and an eventual finish out of the points, though he still retains a 12-point lead in the Drivers’ Championship.
Despite being a weekend where the team demonstrated strong performance, including a Pole position in Round 12 and a podium in Round 13, it was ultimately two difficult races on American soil. Despite this, Jaguar TCS Racing retains the lead of the Teams’ World Championship heading to the season finale in London on 20/21 July.
With qualifying positions of P6 for Nick and P10 for Mitch, the early stages of the R14 race saw both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers conserve energy, Mitch running in and out of the top ten with Nick tactically dropping further back down the field. By mid-way through the 26-lap race, both Jaguar TCS Racing drivers were in a good position on energy – with Nick one of the strongest in the field – but already the close racing had resulted in many incidents of contact. On lap 13 Nick suffered front wing damage after contact at T1 in what a concertina incident was caused by a car in front. The resulting damage forced him to pit for a new front wing.
On lap 18 a safety car was called so debris from earlier incidents – notably the Porsche of Pascal Wehrlein having lost its nose completely – could be cleared. With the race neutralised, the restart on lap 20 saw Mitch take Attack Mode from P6 almost immediately, carving through the field to run as high as second before eventually taking third place.
Nick was in P17 at the restart but, despite having a significant positive energy delta over the majority of the field, the sprint to the finish meant the race was locked out and there was no opportunity to use that advantage. Nick crossed the line in P13.
“One of the risks of this style of strategic racing and this kind of pack racing is that if someone makes a mistake in front of you, there is sometimes nothing that you can do to avoid those incidents,” said James Barclay, MD of JLR Motorsport and Jaguar TCS Racing team principal. “Nick, yet again, put together a really smart race and he had another amazing opportunity. We were very strong on energy, and we felt really positively that we could move forward and fight for a podium or win.
“We now focus our attention to the season finale in London. We’re leading the Teams’ World Championship and we’re first and second in the Drivers’ so we are in a great position and it’s all to play for. London is a special race for us, we’re in front of the home crowd with lots of support from fans and colleagues and we’ll be giving it everything we’ve got to fight for championship success.”
Evans said: “Ultimately it was a really hard-fought race today but really great to get some more points.”
Rounds 15 and 16 of the 2024 ABB FIA Formula E World Championship take place in London on 20 and 21 July.