Mitch Evans has taken a commanding win in a chaotic Mexico City E-Prix, finishing ahead of the DS Techeetah of Antonio Felix Da Costa.
Andre Lotterer had started the race from pole position in his Porsche, but he collided with Evans going into Turn 1 on the opening lap as Evans tried to avoid the wall.
That incident put Lotterer onto the grass, causing him to fall down the order to fourth position, and he lost places to Nyck De Vries and Sebastien Buemi.
From there on, Evans managed to stay out of trouble in his Jaguar to take victory, whilst chaos ensued behind him.
Nico Muller was the first retiree of the race, after crashing into the wall at Turn 1 on lap three, causing the safety car to be deployed and once racing got back underway, Sam Bird made his move to get up to second position.
Lotterer had a further incident on lap 10, making contact with the wall, and collecting an advertisement banner in the process and he fell down to ninth before his front right tyre burst.
Despite the damage, the Porsche driver tried to stay out, but he was given the black and orange flag and never returned from the pitlane.
Sam Bird had looked to secure second place behind Evans, but he got on the marbles in the closing stages of the E-Prix, crashing into the wall at Turn 2, and he fell down to ninth, allowing the DS Techeetah of Antonio Felix Da Costa through to claim the runner-up position, 4.2s behind the Jaguar of Evans.
But although Da Costa ended up taking second place, his race was also not without its own drama, after having a team order dispute with team-mate Jean Eric Vergne.
DS Techeetah had forced Vergne to let Da Costa passed early in the race, but made the bizarre decision to instruct Da Costa to let his team-mate back through later on, despite him being in Attack mode and closing in on Sebastien Buemi.
Da Costa complied with his team and allowed Vergne passed, only to overtake him again four laps later, by which time Buemi had managed to increase his gap.
But, despite the issues, the DS Techeetah driver was able to close the gap to Buemi and passed him for second on lap 32 of 36 and held on to that position, with Buemi crossing the line third to round out the podium positions.
Jean Eric Vergne crossed the line in fourth, while Alexander Sims had a strong race to finish fifth, having started 18th.
The Audi of Lucas Di Grassi was next to finish in sixth, while Oliver Rowland was one position further back in seventh.
Eduardo Mortara crossed the line in eighth place, ahead of James Calado in ninth, who made it a double points result for Jaguar.
Pascal Werhlein rounded out the top ten, scoring his first points of the season, having had a strong drive after starting the race last and serving a drive through penalty for a technical infringement in practice.
Stoffel Vandoorne had looked to extend his lead at the top of the championship, racing in the top six in the closing stages, but the Mercedes driver hit the wall with one lap to go, meaning he failed to score any points.
His team-mate Nyck De Vries also failed to finish, crashing out on lap 19 after suffering issues with his car on the start/finish straight whilst trying to defend from Da Costa.
The result means Evans has taken the lead of the championship, and is just one point ahead of the BMW i Andretti Motorsport car of Sims.
Race Result
| Position | Driver | Team | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Mitch Evans | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | 36 Laps |
| 2 | Antonio Felix Da Costa | DS Techeetah | +4.271 |
| 3 | Sebastien Buemi | Nissan e.dams | +6.181 |
| 4 | Jean-Eric Vergne | DS Techeetah | +14.331 |
| 5 | Alexander Sims | BMW i-Andretti Motorsport | +19.244 |
| 6 | Lucas Di Grassi | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | +28.346 |
| 7 | Oliver Rowland | Nissan e.dams | +29.750 |
| 8 | Edoardo Mortara | Rokit Venturi Racing | +30.204 |
| 9 | James Calado | Panasonic Jaguar Racing | +30.796 |
| 10 | Pascal Wehrlein | Mahindra Racing | +31.132 |
| 11 | Jerome D’Ambrosio | Mahindra | +32.818 |
| 12 | Robin Frijns | Envision Virgin Racing | +33.665 |
| 13 | Max Gunther | BMW i-Andretti Motorsport | +35.512 |
| 14 | Brendon Hartley | GEOX Dragon | +36.399 |
| 15 | Oliver Turvey | NIO 333 Racing | +50.888 |
| 16 | Neel Jani | Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team | +1:04.891 |
| DNF | Stoffel Vandoorne | Mercedes-Benz EQ | |
| DNF | Sam Bird | Envision Virgin Racing | |
| DNF | Daniel Abt | Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler | |
| DNF | Ma Qing Hua | NIO 333 Racing | |
| DNF | Nyck De Vries | Mercedes-Benz EQ | |
| DNF | Andre Lotterer | Tag Heuer Porsche FE Team | |
| DNF | Felipe Massa | Rokit Venturi Racing | |
| DNF | Nico Muller | GEOX Dragon |
