It was fourth time lucky for Mitch Evans as the Jaguar driver finally clinched victory at the Monaco E-Prix, with Nick Cassidy completing a faultless factory Jaguar one-two.
The big question mark ahead of the race was whether Evans would finally secure a Monaco win, having finished on the rostrum the past three seasons.
A stellar strategy from Jaguar saw Evans and Cassidy make their way to the front, where the duo controlled the one-two superbly. Stoffel Vandoorne led in the early stages but in the end had to settle for third, ahead of Jean-Eric Vergne.
Pascal Wehrlein finished in fifth with Oliver Rowland in sixth, whilst Antonio Felix da Costa, Sacha Fenestraz, Maximilian Günther and Norman Nato completed the top 10. Reigning world champion Jake Dennis finished in a disappointing P20 after an incident-packed race.
Huge Mortara shunt
It was Wehrlein on pole for the eighth round of the season with Vandoorne alongside him. It was an all-factory Jaguar second row whilst Dennis was all the way down in P18.
Wehrlein made the best launch from pole position and held the lead into the first corner, whilst further down the field, Jake Hughes lost part of his front-wing.
The leaders were all very well behaved on the first lap, with Dennis having been the big winner after making up four places.
Carnage unfolded on lap four as Norman Nato sustained heavy front-wing damage, whilst Sebastian Buemi was pushed into the wall at the Grand Hotel hairpin. However, the biggest moment on the fourth lap was at Turn 13, where Edoardo Mortara crashed heavily.
Mortara entered the fast chicane alongside Dan Ticktum, with the Mahindra driver having sustained an apparent brake issue which sent him into the barrier at high-speed.
A safety car was immedietly deployed with Vandoorne having inherited the lead as Wehrlein activated his first Attack Mode. Interestingly, Vandoorne also activated his first Attack Mode but kept the race lead, ahead of Evans, Cassidy and Wehrlein.
Jaguar strategy clear
The race restarted on Lap 8 with Vandoorne having remained in the race lead, although he immedietly came under pressure from Evans. Vandoorne activated his second Attack Mode a lap later, which costly allowed Evans and Cassidy past.
Cassidy bunched up the pack which allowed Evans to activate both of his Attack Modes, and keep the lead of the race. Staggeringly, after activating his second Attack Mode on Lap 13, Evans led by a second.
Whilst Jaguar were working strategically, Dennis was forced to pit for a new front-wing, demoting him to the foot of the field. At the front and Evans and Cassidy switched positions, so that Cassidy could build a lead to take his Attack Modes.
DS Penske in third and fourth were playing a similar game, to retain track position to those behind. Behind the top four, Rowland and Fenestraz were making exceptional progress.
Come Lap 20, Evans led from Cassidy, Vandoorne, Vergne, Wehrlein and Günther. After dropping to 13th in the opening laps, Da Costa was a driver on the move and progressed into seventh.
Cassidy holds position
Lap 22 and it was a Jaguar 1-2, DS Penske 3-4, Porsche 5-6 and a Nissan 7-8, in many ways highlighting the current in-form teams. Wehrlein and Da Costa worked together so that the German could activate his final Attack Mode and remain in fifth.
At the front and Cassidy was told to hold position, whilst Vergne pleaded to DS Penske to allow him past Vandoorne. Everything was in the balance ahead of the final laps; however, a second safety car was deployed on Lap 25, after Hughes put Nico Müller in the wall at Turn 18.
This allowed Dennis to catch the back of the field, bringing the Andretti driver back into contention for at least a crucial point. The safety car was only required for two laps before the race resumed, with just five laps remaining.
Evans bolted at the restart and was joined by Cassidy, with the second safety car having ended the need to preserve energy. It meant it was a flat-out dash to the finish, putting Evans in the prime position for victory.
Evans victorious
Into the final two laps and it remained a Jaguar 1-2 and a DS Penske 3-4, although front two were separated by just six-tenths of a second.
The increased pace made overtaking incredibly difficult, allowing Evans to cruise to his first victory of 2024 and his first victory at the Principality. After finishing on the podium at Monaco the last three seasons, Evans finally finished on the top step.
Cassidy secured Jaguar's first one-two of Season 10 whilst Vandoorne completed the podium. Fastest lap went to Jehan Daruvala, although he finished in P18.
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