Mitch Evans believes Jaguar have the pace to win the second Formula E race at the London E-Prix after coming through the field to finish fifth on Saturday.
Evans qualified in 14th after locking up on his final run in group qualifying at Turn 1, but carved his way up the order and moved into second place in the championship following Edoardo Mortara‘s non-points finish.
“I heard that Dennis was really strong,” Evans said in an exclusive interview with Total-Motorsport.com when asked if he thinks he has the pace to win on Sunday.
“But the way that we came through especially around a track like here where it’s really difficult, we had some serious pace.
“I’ll analyse the race with the guys and come back tomorrow to sort out my qualifying.”
Stoffel Vandoorne extended his lead in the championship to 24 points to Evans, with the Jaguar driver admitting he was very frustrated to make a driver error in qualifying, which meant he was unable to challenge for the podium.
“I was just a little bit too eager in the braking,” said Evans. “The track is always getting grippier and I was trying to not leave any time on the table.
“The margins are very tight and I just went deep a little bit too much. When you make a mistake like that it really hurts. It made my life a lot more difficult for the rest of the day.”
Vandoorne taking nothing for granted
Vandoorne has shown no signs yet of feeling the pressure and played things down after the race when asked if he was thinking about the championship.
The Belgian says he would like to win more races, having taken just one victory this season, at the Monaco E-Prix, but is fully focused on executing each session as best as he can.
“I will only believe in the title when it materialises,” Vandoorne told the press. “I’m taking it race by race, trying to score as many points as possible and we’ll just have to see at the end whether it’s enough points or not.
“The closer we get towards the end, if I keep performing as I have been then it should be good. But you can’t take anything for granted in Formula E.
“It doesn’t mean that finishing second today means we will replicate that tomorrow. We’ve got to keep our heads down, keep working hard.
“Tomorrow, to replicate that, is going to be even harder because everyone is going to be closer with the experience they’ve had today.”
Teammate Nyck de Vries crossed the line in third, but was demoted to sixth for weaving on the straights when defending against Nick Cassidy for the final podium position.
Nevertheless, the results still extended Mercedes‘ lead in the teams’ championship to 36 points to Venturi and Techeetah.
When asked by Total-Motorsport.com if he will help Vandoorne‘s bid to win the drivers’ title in the final three races, De Vries said: “Ultimately we are professionals and if anything is required of any interest to the whole team then I’m the first one to help out.”
