Mitch showed the speed of the Jaguar I-TYPE 3 and made it through to Super Pole where he set the third fastest time. However, he was later handed a 10-place grid penalty as a result of selecting the 250kW qualifying mode approximately 0.4 seconds prior to the beginning of the last sector. This minor non-performance infringement ruled the Jaguar driver out of his second front row start this season lining up P12 on the grid.
On a racetrack notoriously difficult for overtaking, Evans managed his energy and seized his chances with some decisive overtakes to gain five places and finish P6. Mitch has finished every race this season and scored in all but one.
"Obviously I’ll always be thinking about what could have been. It could have been a different result if I had started P2 which is where I would have been. It was a small mistake with big consequences. I think we recovered well from where we started which is good and we definitely had one of the fastest racecars today. We’ll definitely be taking that qualifying pace with us to Berlin. It’s one of the trickiest parts of the day. We won’t get caught up in it, we scored points and that’s really important for our Championship race. There’s definitely a few lessons to be learnt, but I’m looking forward to getting back on track in Berlin" Mitch Evans
"Mixed emotions from my perspective. We had one of the fastest race cars across FP1 and FP2 and to finish with both cars in the points is something we haven’t done since the start of the season. Mitch had a fantastic qualifying performance – finishing P3 on the road before the ten-place grid penalty. On the Monaco circuit, grid position is crucial, so that really stung us. Mitch made a little mistake switching to maximum power prior to the final sector. The Stewards acknowledged that this did not provide a performance advantage but we were severely penalised – the penalty did not fit the crime in my opinion. Congratulations to Alex for scoring his first points for Jaguar and to Mitch for another spirited drive through the field." James Barclay
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