Evans scores Jagaur's maiden Formula E win in Rome thriller

Mitch Evans overtook Andre Lotterer on his way to claiming his first FIA Formula E victory in a chaotic and disrupted Rome E-Prix.

Evans passed the Techeetah driver in the second half of a dramatic and incident-filled Rome E-Prix, which started in the wet before the track dried out after the race was red-flagged on the opening lap following a huge pile up that completely blocked the circuit.

The New Zealander fended off multiple attacks from Lotterer during a tense end to the race to hand Jaguar a historic first win in Formula E, which comes after a tough start to the 2018/19 season for the British squad in what is its third year contesting the all-electric series.

Six seconds behind the squabbling top two, ex-Formula 1 driver Stoffel Vandoorne completed the podium in third place to secure a breakthrough result for himself and the HWA squad.

Virgin Racing’s Robin Frijns was fourth, ahead of the Nissan pair of Sebastien Buemi and Oliver Rowland in fifth and sixth.

Lucas Di Grassi recovered from a disappointing qualifying session to score points for Audi in seventh, while Mahindra’s Jerome d’Ambrosio moved back into the lead of the championship thanks to an eighth-place finish.

BMW-Andretti driver Antonio Felix da Costa took ninth as Pascal Wehrlein ensured both Mahindra’s finished inside the top 10 by rounding out the points-paying positions.

Polesitter Lotterer had maintained his lead from Evans at the start before the race was halted on the opening lap when Jose Maria Lopez hit the wall at the Turn 18 chicane, causing a multi-car road-block that resulted in the event being red-flagged to remove the stricken cars and carry out repair work on the barriers.

There was a plethora of incidents on the dramatic first lap as Lopez also tangled with Sam Bird prior to his own crash, while the second Dragon of Maximilian Gunther found himself in the wars when he spun and clipped the barriers, ripping off his front wing in the process.

Alexander Sims was another driver to make contact with the walls after the Briton lost control of his BMW-Andretti under braking in a separate accident.

Remarkably, barring Gary Paffett’s HWA, the rest of the drivers made it back to the pitlane and undertook repairs during the red flag period, before the race got back underway behind the Safety Car following a lengthy delay.

Lotterer once again led the field away at the restart as Evans kept tabs with the leader before activating Attack Mode and pulling off his race-winning overtake with 15 minutes remaining.

It marked Evans’ first victory since the 2016 GP2 feature race at the Red Bull Ring. The result also means that seven different drivers and manufacturers have now shared victories across the opening seven rounds of the 2018/19 campaign.