Mitch Evans
| Mitchell William Evans | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | New Zealander |
| Born |
24 June 1994 Auckland (New Zealand) |
| Related to | Simon Evans (brother) |
| GP2 Series career | |
| Debut season | 2013 |
| Current team | Russian Time |
| Car no. | 9 |
| Former teams | Arden International |
| Starts | 46 |
| Wins | 2 |
| Poles | 0 |
| Fastest laps | 1 |
| Best finish | 4th in 2014 |
| Previous series | |
| 2011–12 2010–12 2009 2009 2008–09 2008 2008 2007–08 2007 |
GP3 Series Toyota Racing Series Australian Drivers' Champ. Formula Ford Australia Formula Ford Fiesta Series Formula Ford New Zealand FFord Manfeild Winter Series Formula First New Zealand FFirst Manfeild Winter Series |
| Championship titles | |
| 2012 2010, 2011 2010, 2011 2011 |
GP3 Series Toyota Racing Series TRS International Trophy New Zealand Grand Prix |
| Awards | |
| 2011 | Jim Clark Trophy |
Mitchell Evans (born 24 June 1994), is a motor racing driver from New Zealand who won the 2012 GP3 Series and is contesting the 2014 GP2 Series with RT Russian Time.[1] He previously won the 2010 and 2011 Toyota Racing Series in New Zealand and was runner up in the 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship despite missing three races. When he won the New Zealand Grand Prix in February 2011, it is believed he became the youngest driver to win an international grand prix anywhere in the world at only 16.[2]
Career
Early career
Born in Auckland, Evans was a champion karter in both restricted 100cc karts, and also won the CIK Trophy of New Zealand at JICA level. He moved to Formula First for the 2007 season, competing in three races of the Winter Series at Manfeild Autocourse, and ending the season eighteenth in the championship. He contested the full New Zealand championship in 2007–08, finishing ninth overall and recording a fastest lap.
Formula Ford
He returned to Manfield for the 2008 Winter Series, but in Formula Ford, winning seven of 12 races he contested to take the championship. In his national Formula Ford campaign in 2008–09, Evans battled with Tauranga's Richie Stanaway who came out on top by just over 100 points. Evans won six races during the season, including doubles at Taupo and Manfeild.
For 2009, Evans moved to the Australian Formula Ford Championship, and competed in the Victorian state championship. Evans was runner-up in the standings, losing out to CAMS Rising Star Luke Ellery in the state championship, and in the national championship to his team-mate at Sonic Motor Racing Services, Nick Percat. During the season, Evans became the youngest round winner in the championship's history, when he won at Sandown Raceway in August.[3] As well as that win, he won five other races including a weekend sweep at Queensland Raceway, and a double win at Surfers Paradise.
Formula Three
Evans was drafted in by Australian Formula 3 entrant Team BRM to compete for them at the final round of the season, at Sandown.[4] BRM acquired Evans' services to help with Joey Foster's championship bid. Evans was quickly on the pace, setting the fastest time in the official practice session,[5] and third in qualifying. In the first race, he ended up fourth overall and third in the Gold Star class, edging out Kristian Lindbom by just over a tenth of a second. However in the second race, Evans led home his team-mate Foster to become the youngest winner of the Formula 3 Superprix, but Foster won the Australian Drivers' Championship.[6]
For the 2010 season, Evans raced in New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series with the Giles Motorsport team. At the first round, Evans took pole position and won the race, a feat that had not been achieved since Brendon Hartley made his debut in the 2005 Toyota Racing Series.[7] He added a second win at Timaru, and won the first contemporary formulae race at the new Hampton Downs Motorsport Park. He claimed the title at Taupo by three points, holding off New Zealander Earl Bamber who won all three races at the circuit.
Evans returned to Australian Formula 3 for the 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship, and won the first three races of the season at Wakefield Park. He skipped the second round at Symmons Plains to test a Formula Abarth car at Misano in Italy.[8] But quickly resumed winning at Phillip Island.
GP3
2011
Evans was signed to race in the 2011 GP3 Series in Europe by the MW Arden team which is co-owned by Christian Horner (principal of F1's Red Bull Racing), and Red Bull driver Mark Webber (Evans' manager).[9] The series features identical new design Dallara-Renaults, and is considered to be the feeder to GP2 and then F1.
Evans won the feature race at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, having finishing sixth and seventh in the first two races at the first round which was staged at Istanbul Park in Turkey . He then went into the Valencia Grand Prix in third place in the championship, and emerged leading the championship after a third in the feature and fourth in the sprint. He held a four point lead over second placed Nigel Melker for the GP3 drivers' championship and MW Arden was leading the constructors championship too.
However, his performance dropped off for the rest of the season, and he only achieved another point scoring round when eighth in the feature race of the final round of the championship in Italy. He eventually finished ninth in the championship with 29 points.
2012
Retained by MW Arden for the 2012 GP3 Season,[10] Evans began with a win in the feature race at the opening round of the championship in Spain.[11] He also had wins at Valencia in Spain and on the Hockenheimring in Germany, and a second and two thirds. He took his fourth pole position of the season at the final venue, Monza in Italy, but did not complete the feature race, requiring him to start from the back of the grid in race two. Evans worked his way through the field to seventh, but a puncture effectively ended his race, and the points for the fastest lap he recorded could not be claimed because he finished outside the top 10. Daniel Abt of Germany finished second in the race and was runner up to Evans in the championship by only two points.
Mark Webber told the media he was very proud of his protege, and he predicted Evans would move to GP2 in 2013. "There are a lot of good drivers in it (GP3),” he said, “yet it was Mitch who had the most poles and the most wins of anyone. He's learning all the time and I look forward to him moving up to another category next year and showing everyone what an exceptional talent he is." [12]
GP2
2013
Webber's prediction was correct because Evans moved up to GP2 with Arden as teammate to the very experienced Johnny Cecotto Jr. In the first racing weekend of the season, at Sepang in Malaysia where he had never raced before, Evans was suffering from food poisoning and had handling problems in the first race. But he finished third in the second race[13] and at 18 years of age, and still a rookie, he became the youngest GP2 driver to stand on the podium.[14]
2014
For the 2014 season Evans moved to the Russian Time team alongside Artem Markelov. He took his maiden victory at Silverstone and then a second at Hockenheim, in what was GP2's 200th race. Four extra podium appearances saw him finish fourth in the standings on 174 points.
2015
Evans will remain with Russian Time for the 2015 season. Markelov will once again be his teammate.
Racing record
Career summary
| Season | Series | Team | Races | Wins | Poles | F. Laps | Podiums | Points | Position |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2007 | Formula First Manfeild Winter Series | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 105 | 18th | |
| 2007–08 | NZ Formula First Championship | Sabre | 18 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 707 | 9th |
| 2008 | Formula Ford Manfeild Winter Series | Sabre | 12 | 7 | 2 | 9 | 10 | 813 | 1st |
| 2008–09 | New Zealand Formula Ford Championship | 21 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 13 | 1111 | 2nd | |
| 2009 | Australian Drivers' Championship – Gold Star | Team BRM | 2 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 32 | 5th |
| Australian Formula Ford Championship | Sonic Motor Racing Services | 23 | 6 | 3 | 6 | 15 | 297 | 2nd | |
| VSCRC Formula Ford Fiesta Series | 2 | 1 | ? | ? | 1 | 176 | 2nd | ||
| 2010 | Toyota Racing Series | Giles Motorsport | 15 | 3 | 8 | 5 | 10 | 915 | 1st |
| Australian Drivers' Championship | Team BRM | 17 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 16 | 219 | 2nd | |
| 2011 | Toyota Racing Series | Giles Motorsport | 15 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 14 | 973 | 1st |
| GP3 Series | MW Arden | 16 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 29 | 9th | |
| British Formula Three | Double R Racing | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 20th | |
| 2012 | Toyota Racing Series | Giles Motorsport | 6 | 2 | 4 | 2 | 4 | 284 | 19th |
| GP3 Series | MW Arden | 16 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 6 | 151.5 | 1st | |
| 2013 | Toyota Racing Series | Giles Motorsport | 3 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 204 | 18th |
| GP2 Series | Arden International | 22 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 56 | 14th | |
| 2014 | GP2 Series | RT Russian Time | 22 | 2 | 0 | 1 | 6 | 174 | 4th |
| 2014-15 | V8SuperTourers Championship | Team 4 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 2 | 245 | 28th |
| 2015 | GP2 Series | Russian Time | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 8 | 8th* |
* Season in progress
Complete GP3 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | D.C. | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | MW Arden | TUR FEA 6 |
TUR SPR 7 |
ESP FEA 1 |
ESP SPR 5 |
VAL FEA 3 |
VAL SPR 4 |
GBR FEA 9 |
GBR SPR Ret |
GER FEA 19 |
GER SPR 22 |
HUN FEA Ret |
HUN SPR 24† |
BEL FEA 11 |
BEL SPR Ret |
ITA FEA 8 |
ITA SPR Ret |
9th | 29 |
| 2012 | MW Arden | ESP FEA 1 |
ESP SPR 20 |
MON FEA 5 |
MON SPR 4 |
VAL FEA 1 |
VAL SPR 6 |
GBR FEA 2 |
GBR SPR 11 |
GER FEA 8 |
GER SPR 1 |
HUN FEA 3 |
HUN SPR 21 |
BEL FEA 3 |
BEL SPR 15 |
ITA FEA Ret |
ITA SPR 20 |
1st | 151.5 |
† Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Complete GP2 Series results
(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)
| Year | Entrant | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | DC | Points |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | Arden International | MYS FEA 10 |
MYS SPR 3 |
BHR FEA Ret |
BHR SPR 15 |
ESP FEA 12 |
ESP SPR 13 |
MON FEA 3 |
MON SPR 3 |
GBR FEA 19 |
GBR SPR 14 |
GER FEA 16 |
GER SPR 7 |
HUN FEA 7 |
HUN SPR 2 |
BEL FEA 11 |
BEL SPR 10 |
ITA FEA Ret |
ITA SPR 15 |
SGP FEA 11 |
SGP SPR 15 |
ABU FEA Ret |
ABU SPR 14 |
14th | 56 |
| 2014 | RT Russian Time | BHR FEA 14 |
BHR SPR 7 |
ESP FEA 14 |
ESP SPR 20† |
MON FEA 2 |
MON SPR 6 |
AUT FEA 7 |
AUT SPR 4 |
GBR FEA 1 |
GBR SPR 7 |
GER FEA 1 |
GER SPR 11 |
HUN FEA 12 |
HUN SPR 9 |
BEL FEA 5 |
BEL SPR 4 |
ITA FEA 3 |
ITA SPR 20† |
RUS FEA 2 |
RUS SPR 4 |
ABU FEA 3 |
ABU SPR 5 |
4th | 174 |
| 2015 | Russian Time | BHR FEA 6 |
BHR SPR 17 |
ESP FEA |
ESP SPR |
MON FEA |
MON SPR |
AUT FEA |
AUT SPR |
GBR FEA |
GBR SPR |
GER FEA |
GER SPR |
HUN FEA |
HUN SPR |
BEL FEA |
BEL SPR |
ITA FEA |
ITA SPR |
RUS FEA |
RUS SPR |
ABU FEA |
ABU SPR |
8th* | 8* |
* Season in progress. † Driver did not finish the race, but was classified as he completed over 90% of the race distance.
Personal
Evans attended Saint Kentigern College in Pakuranga, Auckland, but left at the end of 2010 to pursue his career overseas.[15] Evans' career has been backed financially by entrepreneur Colin Giltrap, who helped establish careers for fellow New Zealand racing drivers Scott Dixon, Chris van der Drift and Brendon Hartley.
References
- ↑ "Mitch Evans to make step up to GP2 series". stuff.co.nz. 16 January 2013. Retrieved 16 January 2013.
- ↑ "Evans becomes youngest Grand Prix winner". Toyota Racing Series. Retrieved 2011-02-14.
- ↑ "2009 Formula Ford finale a cracker". autosports.com.au (Auto Sports). 25 October 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
A season where we saw lap records tumble at every round, the introduction of our EWP 'Hard-Charger' and IMA 'Pole Position' Awards, and our youngest ever competitor and round winner in the form of Mitch Evans – here's hoping 2010 provides us with just as many exciting moments.
- ↑ "Mitch Evans set to add spice to title decider". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 6 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ↑ "SuperPrix action gets underway with impressive rookie Mitch Evans on top". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 27 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ↑ "Joey Foster and Mitch Evans create a weekend for the record books". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 29 November 2009. Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ↑ Egan, Brendon (18 January 2010). "Teen driver Evans wins debut race". stuff.co.nz (Fairfax New Zealand Limited). Retrieved 2010-01-26.
- ↑ "Mitch Evans gets surprise Italian test". speedcafe.com.au (Speedcafe). 6 April 2010. Retrieved 2010-04-11.
- ↑ "New team collaboration between Arden boss Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing Formula 1 driver Mark Webber.". Inside GP3 accessdate=2011-29-11.
- ↑ "Evans retains MW Arden seat for '12". Autosport.com accessdate=2012-16-1.
- ↑ "Evans storms to victory in Barcelona". GP3 The Insider accessdate=12 May 2012.
- ↑ "Motorsport: Webber expects Evans to step up". Otago Daily Times accessdate=17 September 2012.
- ↑ "BRILLIANT GP2 OPENER FOR MITCH EVANS IN FACE OF ADVERSITY". speedcafe.com. Retrieved 24 March 2013.
- ↑ "COLETTI WINS AS MITCH EVANS SCALES TO BRILLIANT GP2 PODIUM". speedcafe.co.nz accessdate=24 March 2013.
- ↑ "Evans, Bamber in Toyota Racing Series battle". Stuff.co.nz (Fairfax New Zealand Limited). 17 March 2010. Retrieved 2010-03-21.
Evans, a St Kentigern's College schoolboy who has never been to Europe, said he had endured an "up and down season" but said he has learnt what it will take to win the title.
External links
 |
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mitch Evans. |
- Official website
- Mitch Evans career summary at DriverDB.com
| Sporting positions | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Mitch Cunningham |
Toyota Racing Series Champion 2010–2011 |
Succeeded by Nick Cassidy |
| Preceded by Earl Bamber |
New Zealand Grand Prix Winner 2011 |
Succeeded by Nick Cassidy |
| Preceded by Valtteri Bottas |
GP3 Series Champion 2012 |
Succeeded by Daniil Kvyat |
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