Mitch Evans

Mitch Evans is a racing driver from New Zealand who currently competes with Jaguar Racing in the FIA Formula E Championship.

Previously in a career, Evans spent four seasons in the GP2 Series and two seasons in GP3 Series, taking the GP3 title in 2012. Outside single-seater racing, his greatest success is the second place in LMP2 class at 2015 Le Mans 24 Hours, with Jota Sport.

Mitch Evans

Championship title in second year of formula racing

Born in June 1994 in Auckland, Mitchell Williams Evans began his racing career in karting competitions, switching to formula racing in 2007, participating in Formula Vee.

In 2008 Evans moved to Formula Ford Winter Series and had a fantastic campaign. He won 7 out of 12 races and other three podium finishes before becoming a champion. In the New Zealand Formula Ford main series Evans again was in fine form and finished the season as a runner-up to Richie Stanaway, with 6 wins on his account.

Young Mitch with Mark Webber

Toyota Racing Series champion in 2010

The next step in Mitch’s career was racing in the 2009 Australian Formula Ford Championship and again the Kiwi racer was a runner-up, this time losing to Nick Percat. With six race wins and other nine podiums, Evans proved his talent and announced that there will be more to come.

The best year in his junior career was in 2010 when Evans became a champion of Toyota Racing Series. The same year he also was a runner-up to Ben Barker in the Australian Drivers’ Championship, equivalent to the FIA Formula 3 Championship. Evans’ speed and talent caught the eye of various teams and he was prepared to make a significant step forward.

Mitch Evans in GP3 Series period

Departure to Europe and GP3 Series champion

In 2011 Evans, helped by his manager Mark Webber, signed with Arden Motorsport to race in the GP3 Series. His rookie season was relatively good. Mitch won the Feature race at Catalunya Circuit, finished 3rd in Valencia, but in the second half of the season results deteriorated, so he finished 9th overall.

Mitch stayed with the team in 2012. For the second year in a row he won the Feature race in Barcelona what was followed with a win in Valencia. Before the end of the season, Evans scored another victory – at Hockenheim – and eventually was crowned as new champion, finishing just two points ahead of Daniel Abt.

Mitch Evans spent two seasons with Russian Time in GP2 Series

Four seasons in the GP2 Series

Progress to the GP2 Series in 2013 was logical. Evans stayed with Arden and used the first season to gain some experience. His best result was the 2nd position in the Sprint race at Hungaroring and finished 3rd in both races in Monaco. At the end of the season Evans was 14th in the standings.

Evans signed with the Russian Time team and the season of 2014 was the best in his GP2 Series career. Mitch won the races at Silverstone and Hockenheim and had other four podiums before finishing 4th in the Drivers’ Championship, behind Jolyon Palmer, Stoffel Vandoorne, and Felipe Nasr.

His second season with the Russian Time, and again having Artem Markelov as a teammate, was pretty similar to the previous one. Evans again scored two victories – at Monza and Bahrain – and recorded other five podiums, but in the final standings the New Zealander dropped to the 5th place.

The season of 2016 was Mitch’s last in the series and he spent it with Campos Racing. The only victory, as well as the only podium finish that year, was in the Feature race at Red Bull Ring. Drop to the 12th place in the standings was a significant step backward but Mitch already had a new engagement.

Mitch Evans joined Jaguar Racing Formula E team in 2016

Formula E debut in 2016, first victory in 2019

Since 2016, Evans is the driver of the newly-formed Formula E team – Jaguar Racing. A technical issue brought Evans’ Formula E debut in Hong Kong to a premature end, but later in the season the results improved. He scored points in four occasions, finishing best in the fourth place in Mexico City and ending the 2016-2017 season 14th in the points.

Evans stayed with Jaguar Racing in the 2017-2018 Formula E season, making a significant progress. He scored his maiden Formula E podium in the season-opening double-header event at Hong Kong. He finished the season seventh in the points.

The maiden victory came in the seventh race of the 2018-2019 FE season, at the streets of Rome. He was also on a podium in Bern, entering New York's finale as one of the championship contenders. There he was on a podium once more, finishing the season fifth in the points.

Mitch Evans debuted at Le Mans in 2015, scoring a podium in the LMP2 class

Podium at Le Mans with Jota Sport

Apart from his duties in various Formula racing championships, Evans tasted some endurance racing. In 2015 he debuted at Le Mans 24 Hours, driving a Jota Sport’s LMP2 Gibson-Nissan alongside Simon Dolan and Oliver Turvey. They finished 2nd in the class and 10th overall.

In the following season, Evans appeared in the season-opening race of the European Le Mans Series at Silverstone, driving the SMP Racing’s LMP2 Nissan and finished 5th, together with Antonio Giovinazzi and Sean Gelael.

Another interesting fact is that Evans’ career has been backed financially by entrepreneur Colin Giltrap who also helped some other drivers from New Zealand, including Brendon Hartley and Scott Dixon.

Photo: mitchevans.com, alchetron.com, wikipedia.org, forcegt.com, wec-magazin.com