The fifth round of Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY was run on the streets of Rome, where the race started on dry asphalt.
Sergio Jimenez had taken Pole Position ahead of Bryan Sellers and championship leader Simon Evans, and second place in the championship, Katherine Legge.
As always there was a VIP driver participating in the race. This time it was Luca Salvadori, who normally rides motorbikes.
The start went fine, with less drama that we often see on the first lap.
Sellers didn’t have the best start from P2 and was pressured by Evans on the outside – but not enough to make him lose his position.
Ahmed Bin-Khanen was the best Pro-Am driver, and he kept his position at the start of the race.
Qi Lin unfortunately had to retire on the second lap, due to a technical problem.
Photo: Jaguar Racing
Caca Bueno had showed good speed earlier in the season, but he got a puncture in qualifying and had to start from the middle of the field, which he couldn’t really get away from, while the other Pro drivers pulled away in front.
While the race was about to hit a more stagnant phase, the weather chose to make it more exciting, with twelve minutes left on the clock. The cars were already on patterned tires, so nobody was in that big of a trouble.
But things got trickier for the Pro-Am drivers, where both Ahmed Bin-Khanen and Yaqi Zhang continued to drive straight in the corner. Luckily, they could turn around and come back to the track. Bandar Alesayi took the lead of Pro-Am.
Katherine Legge tried to overtake Simon Evans from the outside in Turn 13, but it didn’t work and she had to stay in fourth place.
The track got more and more slippery when the rain fell harder in certain parts of the track, but the drivers handled it pretty well.
Caca Bueno went to attack Stefan Rzadzinski on the hairpin but couldn’t get past.
The race finished with a victory for Sergio Jimenez, followed by Bryan Sellers, Mitch Evans, Katherine Legge, Stefan Rzadzinski and Caca Bueno.
Photo: Jaguar Racing
In Pro-Am, Bandar Alesayi won ahead of Yaqi Zhang, Celia Martin and Ahmed Bin-Khanen.
Luca Salvadori finished the race in overall eighth place. Qi Lin was the only retirement of the day.
Sergio Jimenez with the win had taken over the lead in the Pro championship, ahead of, foran Bryan Sellers, Simon Evans and Katherine Legge. These four drivers are within ten points of each other, and with 20 points for a victory, everything is possible.
Bandar Alesayi extends his lead in Pro-Am, in front of Yaqi Zhang, Ahmed Bin-Khanen and Celia Martin.
The next round of Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY will be run in Paris on 27 April 2019.
