Evans wins opening race in Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix

SEOUL, South Korea – Mitch Evans produced under pressure to keep his title chances alive and slice into Stoffel Vandoorne's points advantage as the Kiwi jumped from third on the grid to win the 2022 Hana Bank Seoul E-Prix in style.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver dispatched Julius Bär Polesitter Oliver Rowland (Mahindra Racing) off the line as the Brit struggled to get away cleanly over greasy road markings, the circuit still soaked from an earlier downpour. Evans then rounded Lucas di Grassi (ROKiT Venturi Racing) with a stealthy move into Turn 3 on the opening lap and didn’t look back.

It was an incident-packed opening lap as a multi-car shunt at the penultimate corner caused a 45-minute Red Flag stoppage. Sébastien Buemi, Oliver Askew, André Lotterer, Dan Ticktum, Oliver Turvey, Nick Cassidy, Norman Nato and Nyck de Vries were all caught out by standing water to hit the wall. There was an audible gasp from stadium crowd as they saw de Vries' Silver Arrow 02 undercut Buemi's Nissan which came to rest on top of the Dutchman’s car. Thankfully there were no injuries.

After the restart, it was a relatively serene Saturday afternoon for Evans, who eased to a comfortable three-second gap for much of the race ahead of Rowland. The Brit was happy to seal his first podium finish of the season and his first with Mahindra. Meanwhile, Rowland’s future Mahindra teammate, Lucas di Grassi, earned his 39th podium in third place and became the first driver in Formula E to surpass 1,000 points. Tomorrow, he is set to become the only driver in the Championship to have competed in all 100 E-Prix.

Jake Dennis (Avalanche Andretti) steered to the TAG Heuer Fastest Lap and fourth place, while Vandoorne kept the points ticking over with fifth