With better racing strategy, Mitch Evans was able to do well to win the first race of the Rome ePrix ahead of Robin Frijns and Stoffel Vandoorne. In the fight for the podium, Jean-Eric Vergne had to settle for fourth.
Mitch Evans won his third Formula E championship. After Rome in 2019 and Mexico City in 2020, the New Zealander was able to drive his Jaguar safely through the streets of the Italian capital. A race that had a false start. While Stoffel Vandoorne retained his advantage over Robin Frijns and his Mercedes teammate Nyck de Vries, A collision between Oliver Rowland and Eduardo Mortara sent the Mahindra driver across the track, causing a traffic jam.
A few hundred meters away, Maximilian Günther planted his Nissan in protection. In the face of these accidents, the race management preferred to neutralize the event with the safety car. Once the race resumes, Robin Frijns kept Stoffel Vandoorne under pressure half an hour before the end of regulation time. Then the Dutchman pushed to pull a gap when his opponents tried to stay in touch with the help of “attack mode”.
.hahahaha Wins again in Rome 🇮🇹⚡️
What an incredible fight across the field from Tweet embed Driver!
2022 # rombrix pic.twitter.com/3o0r7txveW
– ABB FIA Formula E World Championship (FIAFormulaE) April 9, 2022
Evans proved to be the smartest
A tactical match that saw Antonio Felix da Costa beat the two Mercedes drivers to finish second. However, the Portuguese slipped back down the hierarchy to take sixth place. The final quarter of the race for the first time saw world champion Nick de Vries slip down the hierarchy to finally retire. For his part, Mitch Evans lets his rivals fight and then takes the second “attack position”.
Then Jaguar driver Stoffel Vandoorne and then Robin Frijns took control and took victory. The end of the race was lively with several position changes, but Robin Frijns had the last word for second place ahead of Stoffel Vandoorne and Jean-Eric Vergne. The Frenchman tried to join the podium fight but could not. Sam Bord, in another Jaguar, completes the top five in this first race in Rome. Seventh, Edoardo Mortara retains the championship lead but sees the competition approaching.
FORMULA E / ROME ePRIX
Race 1 classification – 27 laps (91,395 km) Saturday 9 April 2022
1- Mitch Evans (NZL/Jaguar) at 51’59”632
2- Robin Frijns (PBS/Envision) at 5’703
3- Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium / Mercedes) at 6’966
4- Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA/DS Techeetah) at 7’553
5- Sam Bird (GBR/Jaguar) at 7″ 877
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Drivers’ World Championship standings after 4 races (out of 16)
1- Edoardo Mortara (SUI / Venturi) 49 points
2- Stoffel Vandoorne (Belgium) 46
3– Robin Frijns (Bell/Envision) 42
4– Jean-Eric Vergne (FRA / DS Techeetah) 39
5- Nick de Vries (PBS/Mercedes) 38
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