Evans won a bumpy race 1 in Seoul and put the title on hold

The 99th race of Formula E in which Belgian Stoffel Vandoorne enjoyed the first of this weekend’s title match-balls at the Seoul e-Prix had everything but the world championship decision moving to race 2 this Sunday (9 time / Eurosport 1). A strange incident ended with eight cars hitting the protections and a red flag at the first turn and the victory of the contender Mitch Evans based on a good start before many accidents marked this Saturday for the Stadium and Olympic Park of Seoul’ 88. Porsche reduces the gap to the World Championship leader to 21 points when this Sunday 25 victories are at stake, 3 on pole with the fastest lap.

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Perfect release by Evans

New Zealander Mitch Evans (Jaguar) started like a shot from third place on the grid, stealing the purse from poleman Oliver Rowland and Lucas di Grassi, the men on the front row, but unwilling to force the itself due to wet conditions. . Di Grassi overtook him at the first corner, but then left the door open for him to regain the race initiative with his intention to ‘upset’ this Saturday the match-ball for the Belgian title from Mercedes Stoffel Vandoorne is went from seventh to sixth thanks to Pascal Wehrlein’s poor start from fourth, but was eventually overtaken by Jean-Eric Vergne.

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Carambola with eight cars

But in the fast final right corner of the first lap at Seoul Olympic Park, between the wet surface and the water curtain there was the first red flag for a good pile-up involving up to eight single-seaters. , everyone loses. wheel on the locked brakes and go straight against the protections. Sébastien Buemi spectacularly finished his Nissan with the Mercedes of Nick De Vries, without consequences for both, and the others involved were Norman Nato (Jaguar), the first to enter the barriers, Dan Ticktum ( NIO), Nick Cassidy (Envision) , Oliver Turvey (NIO), André Lotterer (Porsche) and Oliver Askew (Andretti). Through it all, Nato and Cassidy were able to continue the race, returning with minimal damage and returning to the pits.

The race resumed three quarters of an hour later after the safety car, with the asphalt relatively dry. Evans again held off Rowland and Di Grassi and Vandoorne didn’t risk it in seventh place and to gain positions due to rival mistakes. Although this race situation did not give him the mathematics title, it left him with a comfortable match-ball for Sunday, although the forecast of heavy rain would make the resolution a lottery.

A touch from Vergne to Mortara at turn 22 – the Swiss driver’s fault for changing direction on the straight – gave the Belgian from Mercedes sixth place for free and he then took fifth at the expense of Vergne in the car that affected by the incident with Mortara.

Evans maintained his 1″5-1″7 advantage over Rowland and Mortara was surely ruled out for the title, having finally had to retire 10′ and a lap from the end -Vergne , by not taking pole, became eliminated before the race 1-. An incident involving Sims on the last lap saw the race finish behind a safety car and give Evans a break with the box having serious faces fearing a technical problem.

Classification

1. Mitch Evans (NZL/Porsche) 30 laps
2. Oliver Rowland (GB/Mahindra) at 0″820 (pole)
3. Lucas Di Grassi (Bra/Venturi) at 1″393
4. Jake Dennis (GB/Andretti) at 1″902 (VR)
5. Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel/Mercedes) at 2″470
6. Jean-Eric Vergne (Fra/DS Techeetah) at 3″957
7. Pascal Wehrlein (Ale/Porsche) at 4″149
8. Robin Frijns (PB/Envision) at 4″508
9. Antonio Felix Da Costa (Ni/DS Techeetah) at 4″970
10. Nick Cassidy (NZL/Envision) at 5″325
Formula E World Cup
1. Stoffel Vandoorne (Bel/Mercedes) 195 pts
2. Mitch Evans (NZL/Porsche) 174