Bird snatches Sao Paulo win from Evans in final lap thriller

Sam Bird stole victory in the Sao Paulo Eprix from Mitch Evans to take McLaren’s first win in the all-electric series.

Bird passed the Jaguar at the penultimate corner to take his first victory for three seasons, with Evans half a second behind in second.

Oliver Rowland took the final podium position in third, passing both Pascal Wehrlein and Jake Dennis at the final corner to snatch third.

Bird led following a mid-race Safety Car until Evans began to attack him for the lead in the closing stages. Evans passed the McLaren for the lead on lap 28 of 34 as the pair pulled slightly ahead of the cars battling behind.

Evans appeared to have the race won, before Bird pulled alongside through the fast left-hander in the final sector and swept around the outside into the penultimate corner and claim a stunning win, McLaren’s first ever in the championship.

Rowland beat Wehrlein and Dennis to third with under two tenths covering the three of them. Antonio Felix da Costa took fifth ahead of the two DS Penskes of Jean-Eric Vergne and Stoffel Vandoorne. Maximilian Guenther and Sebastien Buemi completed the points scorers.

Nick Cassidy crashed out of the race from sixth place at half distance after damage to his front wing sustained earlier in the race from contact with Edoardo Mortara caused it to collapse, sending the Jaguar into the wall. Cassidy climbed out of his car and was confirmed by Jaguar team principal James Barclay to be okay. Jakes Hughes and Nico Muller also failed to finish the race.

Cassidy still leads the championship with 57 points despite retiring, with Wehrlein four points behind him in second. Evans is third on 39 points, tired with Vergne, with Dennis and Bird fifth and sixth, respectively.

The next round of the Formula E season will take place in two weekends’ time on Saturday 30th March at a brand new venue of Tokyo in Japan – Japan’s first Formula E race and the first international motorsports event to be held around a street circuit in the Japanese city.

2024 Formula E Round 4 – Sao Paulo Eprix – Race results

Pos.	No.	Driver	Team	Car
1	8	Sam Bird	McLaren	Nissan e-4ORCE 04
2	9	Mitch Evans	Jaguar	Jaguar I-Type 6
3	22	Oliver Rowland	McLaren	Nissan e-4ORCE 04
4	94	Pascal Wehrlein	Porsche	Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
5	1	Jake Dennis	Andretti	Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
6	13	Antonio Felix da Costa	Porsche	Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
7	25	Jean-Eric Vergne	DS Penske	DS E-TENSE FE23
8	2	Stoffel Vandoorne	DS Penske	DS E-TENSE FE23
9	7	Maximilian Guenther	Maserati	Maserati Tipo Folgore
10	16	Sebastien Buemi	Envision	Jaguar I-Type 6
11	23	Sacha Fenestraz	Nissan	Nissan e-4ORCE 04
12	48	Edoardo Mortara	Mahinda	Mahindra M10Electro
13	11	Lucas di Grassi	Abt Cupra	Mahindra M9Electro
14	21	Nyck de Vries	Mahinda	Mahindra M10Electro
15	18	Jehan Daruvala	Maserati	Maserati Tipo Folgore
16	3	Sergio Sette Camara	ERT	ERT X24
17	33	Dan Ticktum	ERT	ERT X24
18	17	Norman Nato	Andretti	Porsche 99X Electric Gen3
19	4	Robin Frijns	Envision	Jaguar I-Type 6
20	5	Jake Hughes	McLaren	Nissan e-4ORCE 04
21	51	Nico Mueller	Abt Cupra	Mahindra M10Electro
22	37	Nick Cassidy	Jaguar	Jaguar I-Type 6

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