Reigning champion Antonio Felix Da Costa took his first ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory of the season after an unbelievable last lap overtake on the famous streets of Monaco.
The victory puts DS TECHEETAH's Da Costa fourth in the Drivers' Standings to kickstart his title defence. Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans had lead until the dying embers but energy issues allowed Da Costa to take the lead in the closing moments of the race, while Robin Frijns finished second lifting him to the top of the Drivers’ Championship.
Reigning champion Antonio Felix Da Costa took his first ABB FIA Formula E World Championship victory of the season after an unbelievable last lap overtake on the famous streets on Monaco. Jaguar Racing’s Mitch Evans head into the final lap in the lead but the Portuguese was pushing him all the way and coming out of the tunnel was able to take the lead in the closing moments of the race.
Robin Frijns was also able to overtake Evans who struggled with energy at the very end to finish second – and go top of the Drivers’ Championship – while the New Zealander was forced to settle for third. And with the sport now heading into a six-week break ahead of the second half of the season, another tight title race is forming with the top six drivers separated by just 14 points.
Da Costa secured his second Julius Baer Pole Position of the season following a superb qualifying drive but Frijns took just five minutes to overtake the Portuguese into the lead. Mahindra Racing’s Alexander Sims was forced out the race after an early crash before the top five drivers began to break away from the rest of the pack.
After a relatively incident-free opening minutes Evans and Jean-Eric Vergne had a tussle for third place which stewards soon investigated but found no issues while Frijns looked untroubled as he opened up a solid gap. The gap allowed Frijns to take both his ATTACK MODEs in the first half of the race to fall back into second but soon went past Da Costa for the second time. However, what looked a comfortable race for Frijns turned on its head with 16 minutes to go as Da Costa used FAN BOOST to nip into the lead through the tunnel but his cheers were short lived as Evans produced an unbelievable overtake on the Portuguese’s inside line having overtaken Frijns while in ATTACK MODE just moments before to take the lead.
A safety car soon slowed down proceedings as Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler’s Rene Rast was forced out of the race as we entered the final five minutes. As the racing restarted Da Costa was pushing Evans all the way into the final lap with the Jaguar racer having to defend on every turn and he wasn’t able to hold out as his energy ticked down. Da Costa won by nearly three seconds with Frijns also going past Evans right on the line. The World Championship next heads to Puebla in Mexico on June 19.
 |
|
“I knew the race was going to be so hard but we played the perfect strategy, the team was telling me everything I needed to know at all times and the ATTACK MODE was really well played.” |
Powered by purpose and united by a passion to deliver edge-of-seat racing, the positively charged Formula E community of teams, manufacturers, partners, broadcasters, host cities and fans work together to light up the world with the transformative power of electric racing. www.FIAFormulaE.com
