Neom McLaren’s Sam Bird snatched a dramatic win from Jaguar’s Mitch Evans due to a daring transfer on the ultimate lap of Saturday’s thrilling Sao Paulo Eprix, delivering to workforce papaya its first ever win in Formula E.
Bird pounced on the penultimate nook to seize his first win since 2021, with Evans simply 0.564s adrift on the checkered flag.
Oliver Rowland snagged the ultimate podium spot in a loopy final nook transfer, squeezing previous each Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis to take third.
Bird bolted out to an early lead after the primary spherical of attack mode boosts, protecting Porsche poleman Pascal Wehrlein at bay whereas main a pack of 15 automobiles working nose-to-tail, with typically simply three seconds separating the highest 10.
The lead stored swapping between Bird, Porsche teammates Wehrlein and da Costa, Evans and Andretti’s Jake Dennis.
Everyone knew earlier than the race that managing power can be essential due to the lengthy straights and curvy Anhembi Sambadrome Circuit.
Drivers have been compelled to take care of two Safety Cars durations, together with a neutralization triggered by Jaguar’s Nick Cassidy when the championship chief crashed into the wall on lap 16. This turned the remainder of the race right into a flat-out dash to the end.
©McLaren
Bird and Evans have been neck and neck within the lead because the race unfolded. Even although Dennis in third place had some additional power in comparison with his direct rivals, the Andretti charger’s automotive working scorching and couldn’t exploit his extra capability.
With simply seven laps to go – together with three added by the earlier two Safety Car durations – it regarded like Evans had secured the win after overtaking Bird on the surface at Turn 3.
However, Bird had no intention of giving up. It had been fairly a while because the Briton had final tasted victory, his most recent win courting again to the streets of New York City in 2021.
Determined to not let the chance elude him, he seized his last probability at claiming the lead by maneuvering across the exterior of his former teammate at Turn 10 to seize the within line into Turn 11 and cross the checkered flag with Evans simply half a second behind.
“What a race that was, that was great,” Bird commented after the race. “It means so much for everybody at NEOM McLaren. I think everybody can now see the progress that is slowly happening.”
Jaguar’s Mitch Evans
With temperatures hovering, Dennis, working in third position, needed to nurse it to the end line whereas additionally keeping off Wehrlein. This opened up a possibility for Nissan’s Rowland who sliced by each drivers on the last nook and beat the pair in a three-way dash to the end line, with Wehrlein edging Dennis for fourth.
With native heroes Lucas di Grassi and Sergio Sette Camara ending properly exterior the factors, Porsche’s Antonio Felix da Costa managed to salvage sixth place.
Unfortunately, Cassidy’s crash and ache was Wehrmlein’s achieve, with the German shifting inside 4 factors of the Kiwi within the championship standings.
Evans sits in third with 39 factors. In the workforce standings, Jaguar TCS Racing has been overtaken by TAG Heuer Porsche, 96 factors to 61.
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