Mitch Evans calls early retirement despite P3 start at Sanya E-Prix a missed opportunity: “It does hurt”
Evans lined up third on the grid and looked set for a strong result, but it was not his day at the chaotic Sanya E-Prix last weekend. The Jaguar TCS Racing driver was caught up in a multi-car collision and adamaged his car, ultimately retiring from the race. Although he continues to lead the Formula
By Global Sports Desk
Evans lined up third on the grid and looked set for a strong result, but it was not his day at the chaotic Sanya E-Prix last weekend.
The Jaguar TCS Racing driver was caught up in a multi-car collision and adamaged his car, ultimately retiring from the race.
Although he continues to lead the Formula E Drivers’ Championship, he remains disappointed by the missed opportunity after starting near the front.Mitch Evans on damaging his car in a multi-car collision at Sanya E-PrixMitch Evans lined up P3 for the 37-lap contest on the tight Sanya street circuit and was among the frontrunners in the early stages.
However, midway through the race, following rear-end contact and a later multi-car incident at the hairpin that brought out the red flag, Evans sustained damage to his rear tyres and wishbone.The team worked tirelessly to repair his car under immense time pressure, but despite their efforts, Evans was forced to restart from the pit lane a lap down.
He battled on but was ultimately forced to retire.Summing up the chaotic race in Sanya, Mitch Evans said, “Today was a day of missed opportunity.
We qualified well and I had a strong start to the race before I was hit from behind.
The red flag gave the team an opportunity to fix the damage and they did an amazing job getting it ready for the restart, but starting from the pit lane put me a lap down.”“Although I’m still leading the Drivers’ Championship, I can’t help but think of the missed opportunity.
We put ourselves in a position to fight for the win, had six minutes of Attack Mode left and we were good on energy, so this does hurt.
We’ll come back fighting in Shanghai,” he added.Jaguar TCS Racing says they knew it was going to be chaotic in SanyaJaguar TCS Racing Team Principal Ian James said, “We knew from the start that Sanya was going to be a chaotic race and it proved to be exactly that.
Unfortunately for Mitch, he found himself caught up in multiple incidents ahead of him and could do little to avoid the situation that unfolded.
We took the decision under the red flag to make the necessary repairs – something that the team did a phenomenal job of pulling off – but unfortunately, with how the race panned out, there wasn’t much we could do to get him back into the points.”Evans currently sits at the top of the Formula E Drivers’ Championship standings with 128 points.Also read: Antonio Felix da Costa on losing Sanya podium due to penalty: “We’re swimming against the tide this year”Get the latest Sports News and Live updates.
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