'Absolutely a joke': Evans remains furious with 'ridiculous' Formula E penalty

Mitch Evans has stressed that he remains furious with his recent five-second time penalty in Portland, which saw him lose a race win. 

The penalty for being judged as having caused a collision with Jake Hughes has impacted his title chances. 

Had the victory stood, Evans would enter this weekend's Formula E season finale in London as the championship leader; instead, he sits 12 points behind team-mate Nick Cassidy.

Despite this, Evans has an excellent chance of winning the title, something he has narrowly missed out on the last three seasons. 

This weekend is the closest he has entered a season finale behind the championship leader, giving him partially the sense that it is meant to be his crown.

"Yes and no," Evans told RacingNews365. "Definitely the best opportunity I'm going to have up until this date. 

"So that's given me some kind of optimism and motivation to try and get it done. But I'd, for sure, prefer to be leading coming into this weekend. We just have to wait and see, but I'm feeling good. 

"I need to do two good races, and if it doesn't happen, it doesn't happen. I'll sleep totally fine on Sunday. Mainly, because I know that I've just maybe not had the best year that I've ever had."

Evans anger

The Portland penalty could have an impact on the title depending on Evans' results in London. He remains insistent that the penalty was "absolutely a joke" and "ridiculous". 

Regardless of whether he received the penalty in the first race or the 13th race, he has stressed that the decision would still infuriate him. 

"I haven't accepted it, but I'm kind of half over it, I guess," said Evans. "Normally I can move on pretty quickly, but that one I think was just so ridiculous. 

"Even if it was at the start of the season, I think it'd be absolutely a joke, but obviously that would have changed my championship quite a lot. 

"I'd be leading coming into this weekend. So that really sucked. That was a weird weekend."