Motorsport
The right tactics result in victory: Evans and da Costa win in Shanghai
2024. 05. 27
- Mitch Evans and António Félix da Costa won the Saturday and Sunday races respectively through the outstanding performance of the Hankook iON Race
- With the strong performance of the Hankook iON Race, Jean-Éric Vergne from France celebrated a new record during the qualifying session for the eleventh race of the season held on Saturday
- Hyun Cheol Kim, COO of Hankook Tire China, and about 60 guests enjoyed an exciting Formula E World Championship outing and were impressesd by the exceptional performance of the Hankook iON Race
Seoul, Korea, May 27, 2024 – The double header at the Shanghai E-Prix primarily required the teams and 22 drivers to have the right tactics. Optimal energy and tire management were the key to success on the 3.051-kilometer Shanghai International Circuit. In cloudy skies and 27 degrees Celsius, it was Mitch Evans (Jaguar TCS Racing) of New Zealand who won the first race on Saturday. The 29-year-old driver who started from third on the grid, was among the front-runners throughout the race, and with the necessary grip of the Hankook iON Race, took the lead towards the end of the race. After his victory in Monaco, this is the driver from Auckland’s second win of the season, and his twelfth overall in the Formula E World Championship. The German Porsche driver Pascal Wehrlein finished the race in second place. He was followed by Evans’ teammate and compatriot Nick Cassidy who took third place.
The second race on Sunday with cloudy skies and 33 degrees Celsius was also predominantly characterized by tactics. Frequent changes of position across the field made for plenty of variety and nail-biting moments down to the wire. The glorious winner in the world’s third largest metropolis in race twelve of the season was the Portuguese driver António Félix da Costa (TAG Heuer Porsche Formula E Team). Assisted by the good performance of the Hankook iON Race, the 32-year-old fended off the attacks of his rivals and celebrated his second win of the season. In second place was Jake Hughes (GB/NEOM McLaren Formula E Team) ahead of Norman Nato (FR/Andretti Formula E) in third place.
After twelve races this season, Cassidy currently leads the overall standings with 167 points, ahead of Wehrlein with 142 points and third-placed Evans (132 points). The next stop in the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship is the Hankook Portland E-Prix in the USA on June 29 and 30.
Nico Müller (ABT Cupra Formula E Team) after Saturday’s race stated “The track really didn’t go easy on the tires today. We were actually more focused on saving a lot of energy. But we slightly underestimated the fact that we probably should have gone a little easier on the tires, and that was rough at the end.”
Maximilian Günther (Maserati MSG Racing) after the weekend said “Tire management was definitely a major theme of the weekend. The pace during a lap in qualifying was very good. It was much more difficult during the race since the track, with its elongated turns, subjects the tires to extreme wear. But the performance was okay overall and tire wear wasn’t an issue.”
Plenty of power, skills, and grip – with the strong performance of the Hankook iON Race, France’s Jean-Éric Vergne of DS Penske celebrated a new record in the Formula E World Championship. During the qualifying session for the eleventh race of the season on Saturday, the 34-year-old prevailed over his rivals and started from first on the grid in an e-prix for the 17th time.
VIP guests from China including Hyun Cheol Kim, COO of Hankook Tire China, and around 60 guests enjoyed an exciting Formula E World Championship outing at the double header featuring races eleven and twelve in Shanghai. In addition to exclusive backstage insights from visiting the pits of the ABT Cupra and Mahindra Racing teams and driving experiences during “Electric Laps” on the track, the on-site guests were impressed by the commanding performance of the Hankook iON Race. At the track, Hyun Cheol Kim also sat down with Enrique Buenaventura, the man responsible for legal and business affairs at Formula E.
In the run-up to the Shanghai E-Prix, Mitch Evans of Jaguar TCS Racing went for a special kind of “ride”. In the heart of Shanghai, he drove the Formula E demo vehicle with a Jaguar foil and the premium Formula E tires, the Hankook iON Race, down the world-famous waterfront area “The Bund” along the western bank of the Huangpu River (watch clip).
Current Formula E world champion Jake Dennis’s (Andretti Formula E) helmet design was a real eye-catcher in China. In the double header, dragons and his race number one adorned the Brit's red and white head protection. It pays tribute to the current Year of the Dragon in China.
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