Formula E: Mitch Evans beats Pascal Wehrlein to win Berlin E-Prix

Jaguar driver Mitch Evans steered to victory in the first race of this weekend’s Berlin double header, heading home Porsche's reigning champion Pascal Wehrlein as points-leader Oliver Rowland failed to finish for Nissan. F1Technical’s senior writer Balazs Szabo reports on the first race of this weekend’s Berlin double-header from the Tempelhof paddock.

Having dominated the qualifying session on a very wet track, Jaguar driver Mitch Evans started from pole position. The Kiwi got a great launch off the line to maintain the lead into Turn 1.

However, former champion Jake Dennis was left on the grid. The Briton was unable to get going, and the safety car was deployed to clear his Andretti.

After the short safety period, race leader Evans elected to activate his first attack mode which allowed Robin Frijns to take over the lead, however, the Jaguar racer made good use of his power boost and regained the lead immediately.

In the meantime, Felipe Drugovich, Sebastien Buemi and Nyck Cassidy dived into the pits to serve their penalties.

At the front, Pascal Wehrlein looked strong, making up places in quick succession. The reigning champion worked his way up to P2, albeit he appeared to have used more energy than race leader Evans.

On Lap 24, Evans dived into the pits to complete his mandatory stop for the Pit boost. Wehrlein followed the Kiwi, which allowed championship leader Oliver Rowland to take over the lead.

Evans returned to action in fourth place, but he was the net leader of the race ahead of Wehrlein.

Just moments later, David Beckmann crashed into the wall. The German was tagged by Sergio Sette Camara from behind as the pair battled at Turn 4. The safety car was required to clear Beckmann’s car while Sette Camara received a ten-second penalty for the incident.

After the field was released, there was another drama. Championship leader Rowland had a clash with Drugovich, and with his Nissan picking up significant damage, the Briton was forced to retire.

The dying stages of the race saw Wehrlein use his last attack mode which enabled the Porsche driver to close in on race leader Evans. Although the German managed to reduce the gap under a second, he was unable to make a move on Evans, who took his 14th Formula E victory in Berlin.

Edoardo Mortara completed the podium while McLaren’s Taylor Barnard finished fourth ahead of Cassidy, Guenther and Buemi. Jakarta E-Prix winner Dan Ticktum crossed the finish line in ninth place, with Da Costa having rounded out the top ten.