Motorsport: Kiwi driver Mitch Evans looking for Mexican breakthrough in Formula E logjam

Panasonic Jaguar Racing driver Mitch Evans. Photo / Photosport

Kiwi motor racer Mitch Evans and the Formula E championship spark back into action this weekend at Puebla, Mexico. At the halfway stage of the series Evans sits third on the points table, three points behind Nyck De Vries and a further five points off Robin Frijns in first.

The New Zealander is relatively happy to be sitting where he is so far into the season. The Formula E championship is well known for throwing up a plethora of winners during the season and this year is no different. There have been six different winners over the seven rounds so far with only De Vries winning more than once.

Everyone in the field has had at least two bad rounds, so one race win, or a couple of podiums, can change the points table rather quickly.

"Six winners in the last seven races is pretty much normal as the races are so competitive," Evans told the Weekend Herald from Mexico.

"It's just the way the championship is, as the cars are all so similar and the qualifying format is designed to put the drivers who are at the front of the championship towards the back of the grid.

"You just get this spread of points right throughout the field. I think the top 10 in the championship are covered by less [points] for a race win.

"At this point in the season sitting in third is good, but it doesn't mean much more than being in fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth. I'm pretty satisfied where we are at the moment and the plan is to get a race win soon."

Evans had success in Mexico last year getting his second win in the championship. While excited to be heading back to a happy hunting ground, unfortunately for the team they are not on the same city streets as last time.

"It's a completely different city and circuit than last year. It's a bit of a shame for us as we have some pretty good memories from last time and our car worked well at the previous circuit," said Evans.

"I'm a bit gutted we're not going back to the original circuit. It's a whole new experience for us here in Puebla, which is more of a permanent circuit like Valencia.

"It's a layout that doesn't suit us like a lot of other circuits, which will be tricky. We'll just have to find ways to make it work."

This weekend's race is only the second time the championship has raced on a purpose-built race track. For the past six seasons the Formula E series has been held on inner-city streets.

The cars were never designed, or built, to race on a purpose-built race track and have been designed to rotate very quickly due the nature of tight street circuits. They also have very soft suspension to deal with all the surface changes.

"The track has a number of long corners, whereas our car is very good on street circuits where the corners are tight where it's more of a quick rotate and a point and squirt," Evans explained.

"It'll be tricky for us, but hopefully we'll be able to find a sweet spot in the car to suit the layout.

"It's going to be a challenge and we'll find out how it'll go soon."