Non-start in Shanghai hits Evans’ Formula E title hopes

Mitch Evans’ bid for a long-awaited maiden Formula E title took a major hit after a non-start in the second race of the Shanghai E-Prix.

The Jaguar TCS Racing driver – who will depart the team at the end of the season with the incoming Opel team touted as his most likely destination – entered the weekend with a 19-point lead over 2023-24 champion Pascal Wehrlein, despite retiring from the Sanya E-Prix two weeks ago. That gap was whittled down by three points after Wehrlein took pole for the first race of the weekend, then by further 13 points after the Porsche driver won and Evans finished eighth.

But on Sunday, after qualifying 14th – which in itself isn’t as bad as it sounds given that the three who finished on the podium started from 20th, 19th and 18 respectively – Evans didn’t even make the start.

A DC/DC (inverter) failure was given as the reason. The component isn’t one produced by Jaguar, rather a championship-supplied part that all competitors run, and Jaguar tried to change it on the grid in a bid to get Evans racing but it ended up causing a fuse in the battery to blow, according to team principal Ian James.

“They tried to change it, because they can have a knock-on effect with the battery, and it seems like it's made an issue with the batteries,” said Evans. “So yeah, real shame, but that requires a battery change, and obviously there's no time to do that.

“So they did all they could, but yeah, unbelievable, really. We have to try and turn our luck around and get ourselves back on track for the last four races.”

Four races in the season remain, two in Tokyo and two in London. Tokyo hasn't been a happy hunting ground for Evans, with the three previous races there have yielded a 15th, a retirement, and a DNS but in the six races in London so far in the GEN3 era, Evans has won once, finished on the podium a further three times, and never failed to score.

“I've got to reset,” he said. “I can't do anything about it, Tokyo has not been our best track in the past, as well. The Asian leg has been brutal so far, but again, we'll try and turn it around.

“It's going to be a night race [in Tokyo], so things are a bit different compared to the previous years. I think we're in a better window as well, compared to last year, so that gives me a little bit of hope and confidence, but it's definitely not our preferred track on the calendar. But we'll do our best, we're still in it, so that's all we can really do.”

With Evans’ deficit to Wehrlein currently sitting at 9 points and a maximum 116 still on the table – plus the series being as competitive as ever with Evans, his teammate Antonio Felix da Costa, Wehrlein and Jake Dennis all leading the series in wins with two apiece – he’s very much still in contention and he’s buoyant about his prospects.

"I’m still very much in the championship fight,” he said. “I’ll reset along with the team and will head to Tokyo to race hard as always.”