It was a decidedly intense Race 1 that took place on the Rome track in the EUR district and Mitch Evans staged a real dominance in the first appointment of the Italian weekend.
The Jaguar driver immediately showed a higher pace than his rivals. Despite starting from ninth on the grid, Evans was skilled in making the most of his energy and then placing the decisive tear from mid-race onwards.
It was above all the clever use of the double attack mode that proved decisive. Once he passed the dedicated area for the second time, Evans had an easy time. After the feeble resistance of Vandoorne first and then Frijns, the Jaguar driver took off and passed under the checkered flag with a margin of almost 6 seconds over the Dutchman of Envision Virgin Racing.
What attracted the attention of Race 1, however, was the long duel between Frijns and Vandoorne. The two exchanged positions several times, giving the public overtaking to the limit. In the end, the Dutchman got the better of him, also good at managing the residual energy in the final minutes.
Instead, Stoffel Vandoorne chews bitter for not being able to convert pole into a victory. The Belgian was perhaps too tender in resisting Frijns’ attack in the opening stages of Race 1 and in the final he had to check the fierce Jean-Eric Vergne and Sam Bird in the mirrors.
Mitch Evans, Jaguar Racing, Jaguar I-TYPE 5
Photo by: Sam Bagnall / Motorsport Images
The Frenchman tried in every way to find space on the last step of the podium, but he had to settle for fourth place with a delay of just half a second from Vandoorne, while Bird, after having lost the front right wheel arch in an initial contact, he managed to finish in fifth position thus allowing Jaguar to take home important points for the constructors’ classification.
Race 1 disappointing for Antonio Felix da Costa considering the potential shown at the beginning. The Portuguese suffered several attacks, including one not very clean by Jake Dennis which cost the Andretti team driver a 5 ” penalty, and was unable to do better than sixth place in front of Edoardo Mortara.
The Venturi team rider, author of a qualifying to forget, showed an excellent pace in the race, managing to recover from the eleventh starting position. Edo, however, had to deal with a 5 ” penalty imposed for the initial contact with Rowland which cost the Englishman a spin and relegation to the back of the group. Without this penalty, Mortara could have achieved a much better position.
Finally, the race of the two Porsche drivers was disappointing. Arriving in Rome with very different expectations, Pascal Wehrlein and Andre Lotterer did not manage to do better than eighth and tenth place separated from Nick Cassidy’s Virgin.
Lastly, Race 1 suffered for Antonio Giovinazzi who finished in penultimate position ahead of only Dan Ticktum. Tomorrow it will be repeated on the splendid track of the EUR with Race 2 which will start at 15:00.
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