Mitch Evans was left feeling “bittersweet” after losing victory on the final lap of the race to Sam Bird.
The Jaguar driver looked set to claim his first victory of the season, but an audacious move by Bird on the penultimate corner of the track snatched it away from the Kiwi.
Despite feeling a bit down after the race, Evans still saw the positives in the race and was happy to claim 18 points for his championship push.
“It’s a bittersweet feeling today,” said Evans. “It’s great to be back on the podium and scoring strong points for the team, but it’s also disappointing to have been leading the race and losing it on the last two corners.
Evans also explained that his battery was overheating in the final few laps of the race which affected his pace on that final lap.
“Unfortunately, our battery overheated meaning that it was easy for Sam to pass. Big congratulations to Sam today.
“It was a great move so fair play to him. But I was struggling with pace, and if he didn’t pass me at Turn 10, I reckon he could have out-dragged me to the line anyway.
“So it’s frustrating to lose the race like that because it was not like I was low on energy. I just couldn’t use the energy because my battery was overheating which was a shame. I am now looking forward to keeping this momentum going into Tokyo in two weeks’ time.”
It was a day to forget for Nick Cassidy as he fell victim to the peloton style of racing. The New Zealander damaged his front wing during the slowdown at Turn 4 chicane.
His front wing would later fail and go under the car, making him a passenger as he slammed into the wall.
“I had a really fast car in FP1, FP2 and the first run of qualifying today, but the race didn’t go quite how I wanted or expected it to. I had a couple of touches with the front wing and unfortunately, it was too badly damaged and it failed causing me to hit the wall.
“I still think I was one of the fastest cars this weekend, plus, I have come off the back of four podiums in a row and I’m still leading the Drivers’ Championship standings so there are a lot of positives to take forward to Tokyo,” explained Cassidy.
