Title race over for Mitch Evans, da Costa crowned FE champion

The Formula E title race is over for Mitch Evans and Panasonic Jaguar Racing after Antonio Felix da Costa trailed teammate Jean-Eric Vergne across the line in a commanding 1-2 for DS Techeetah which seals both the drivers’ and teams’ championships.

Evans scored his best result of what has been a very tumultuous fou-race period from the Berlin Tempelhof Airport, beating out Andre Lotterer and Alex Lynn for seventh in a race-long scrap.

Staged in damp conditions, Vergne started from pole and led the field for the early portions of the race before the team orchestrated a pass which gave da Costa the lead and allowed Vergne to conserve energy.  

In a gentleman’s agreement, da Costa allowed Vergne back past him with a handful of time on the clock to secure his first race victory of the season.

Behind, both Nissan cars were a long way back as Sebastien Buemi claimed the final step of the rostrum while Mercedes’ Nyck de Vries muscled his way past the sister Nissan of Oliver Rowland on the final lap to steal fourth.

Evans was in the hunt for points all race, working his way up from 11^th on the grid and capitalising on an opening lap Safety Car caused when Maximilian Guenther crashed with Oliver Turvey.

Turvey was forced to slow as Sergio Sette Camara locked his brakes at Turn 3 which in turn created a concertina effect and Guenther was unable to slow in time before collecting the rear of the NIO car.

Guenther was deemed to be at fault for that incident by the stewards after an in-race investigation and has subsequently incurred a three-place grid drop for the next.

Evans dropped over five seconds behind the Audi of Lucas di Grassi as the Kiwi expertly resisted a heated challenge by Lotterer and Lynn who was managing a problem with his dash.

Felipe Massa picked up only his second top-10 finish of the year as he completed the last of the points scorers for ROKiT Venturi.

Da Costa thus achieved what was previously deemed an impossible task considering he left the season-opening Diriyah doubleheader with one point to his name. But his title foundation was built in Mexico and Marrakesh where a hard-fought second and a breakthrough win in Morocco were accomplished.

Evans meanwhile still has a realistic chance of claiming second in the standings, The Kiwi has slumped to sixth in the points race but only sits 15 points adrift of Vergne who currently holds the top spot beneath da Costa.

The final two races will be held on a unique Berlin circuit configuration on August 12 and 13.