From Auckland karting to the all-time Formula E win list, the career of a driver who collected titles at every level before joining Opel for 2026-27.
Mitch Evans, born in Auckland in 1994, is a New Zealand racing driver. He spent ten years at Jaguar Racing before moving to Opel GSE for 2026-27, and he holds the all-time Formula E record with 16 wins as of September 2026.
Mitch Evans is a New Zealand racer whose name now sits at the top of Formula E's win list. He spent ten seasons at Jaguar before joining the new Opel team, and along the way he collected titles in New Zealand, Australia and Europe. The 16 wins he had banked by September 2026 are the most in the category's history.
Who is Mitch Evans?
Born in Auckland on 24 June 1994, Evans is a New Zealand driver whose racing life has been spent almost entirely in single-seaters and electric prototypes. Ten years at Jaguar were followed by a switch to Opel GSE for 2026-27, and his 16 wins by September 2026 form the highest total in the series.
Evans was a champion karter in the restricted 100cc classes before moving into single-seaters. He won the CIK Trophy of New Zealand at JICA level, and he later attended Saint Kentigern College in Pakuranga. He left school at the end of 2010 to pursue racing overseas, a decision his career backing from the entrepreneur Colin Giltrap helped make possible.
A New Zealand karter who became the most successful driver in Formula E history, one race win at a time.
How did Evans start his single-seater career?
Evans moved to Formula First for the 2007 season and finished eighteenth in the championship. He then contested the full New Zealand championship in 2007-08 and ended the season ninth overall, recording a fastest lap along the way.
He returned to Manfeild for the 2008 Winter Series in Formula Ford and won seven of the twelve races he entered to take the title. The 2008-09 national Formula Ford campaign was harder. He lost the championship to Richie Stanaway by just over 100 points, although he still won six races, including doubles at Taupo and Manfield.
In 2009 he moved to the Australian Formula Ford Championship. He finished runner-up in the national standings and in the Victorian state title, and he became the youngest round winner in the championship's history at Sandown. He also swept a weekend at Queensland Raceway and won twice at Surfers Paradise.
How did Evans win Toyota Racing Series and Australian titles?
In 2010 Evans raced in New Zealand's Toyota Racing Series with Giles Motorsport. He took pole and won the first round, a feat that had not been achieved since Brendon Hartley's debut in 2005. He won again at Timaru and claimed the title at Taupo by three points.
He also returned to the Australian Drivers' Championship in 2010 and won the first three races of the season at Wakefield Park. A year earlier he had been drafted in by Team BRM for the final round at Sandown, and he won the second race there to become the youngest winner of the Formula 3 Superprix.
In 2011 he added another national title, and that same year he won the New Zealand Grand Prix at the age of 16, making him the youngest driver to win an international Grand Prix. His rapid progress set up the move to Europe that shaped the rest of his career.
How did Evans win the GP3 title?
Evans joined MW Arden for the 2011 GP3 Series, a team co-owned by Christian Horner and managed in part by Mark Webber. He won the feature race at Circuit de Catalunya and led the championship briefly, but his form dropped away and he finished ninth with 29 points.
He stayed with MW Arden for 2012 and took the GP3 title. He won the feature races in Spain, Valencia and at the Hockenheimring, and he took four pole positions over the season. He beat Daniel Abt to the title by only two points, which was enough to make him one of the most accomplished young drivers in Europe.
Webber predicted a step up to GP2 for 2013, and he was right. The move put Evans alongside the experienced Johnny Cecotto Jr. at Arden.
What were Evans's GP2 years like?
In 2013 Evans made his GP2 debut at Sepang, where he had never raced before. He was suffering from food poisoning and had handling problems in the first race, yet he finished third in the second race. At eighteen he became the youngest GP2 driver to stand on the podium.
In 2014 he moved to Russian Time, where he took his maiden GP2 win at Silverstone and a second place at Hockenheim, which was the 200th race in the series. He finished fourth in the standings on 174 points. He stayed with the team for 2015, finishing fifth in the standings.
For 2016 he switched to Campos, alongside Sean Gelael, and he took his first victory of that season in the Austrian feature race in changing conditions. That result closed his GP2 chapter and opened the door to Formula E.
How did Evans become a Formula E race winner?
On 19 August 2016 Jaguar announced that Evans would be one of four drivers testing at Donington Park before the season. He was signed by the team, and in his first season he partnered Adam Carroll. He scored 22 points to Carroll's five and finished 14th in the championship, which gave Jaguar its first points in the series.
His breakthrough came in 2017-18, when he took Jaguar's first Formula E podium in Hong Kong, finishing third after Daniel Abt's disqualification. He then took his first pole position at Zurich, and he finished seventh in the standings, ahead of teammate Nelson Piquet Jr.
The 2018-19 season brought his first ePrix victory. At Rome he moved to the front on the chicane and then held on for the win. He also took second place at the first Bern ePrix and at one New York City race, and he finished fifth overall with 105 points.
How did the title battles unfold between 2019 and 2023?
In 2019-20 he won in Mexico City by one of the biggest margins in the history of the category. The season ended with six races in Berlin because of the pandemic, and Evans finished seventh with 71 points.
Over the next seasons he was a constant threat at the front. He finished fourth with 90 points in 2020-21, despite a crash with Alex Lynn at Diriyah that stopped his race. In 2021-22 he won at Rome, Jakarta and Seoul, and he finished second in the championship with 180 points, 33 behind Stoffel Vandoorne.
In 2022-23 he won at Sao Paulo and at Berlin, but a collision caused by Sam Bird ended his race at Hyderabad after he had qualified on pole. He finished third in the championship that season.
| Season | Result | Notable moment |
|---|---|---|
| 2016-17 | 14th, 22 points | Jaguar's first points in the series |
| 2017-18 | Seventh | Hong Kong podium and first pole at Zurich |
| 2018-19 | Fifth, 105 points | Rome ePrix win |
| 2019-20 | Seventh, 71 points | Mexico City win by a huge margin |
| 2020-21 | Fourth, 90 points | Diriyah crash with Alex Lynn |
| 2021-22 | Second, 180 points | Wins at Rome, Jakarta and Seoul |
| 2022-23 | Third | Wins at Sao Paulo and Berlin |
| 2023-24 | Runner-up | Monaco and Shanghai wins; lost the title by six points |
| 2024-25 | 13th | Sao Paulo win and Round 1 win at Berlin |
Why is Evans's win tally important?
Evans reached the top of the all-time Formula E win list in January 2026, when he passed Sebastien Buemi's total. The milestone was the result of a long run as one of the series' most consistent winners rather than a short purple patch.
His record is built on wins spread across ten seasons with one team. Only a handful of drivers have strung together a long run of race victories in the electric category, and Evans's 16 wins by September 2026 place him ahead of every other driver in the history of the championship.
What does the move to Opel mean for Evans?
After ten seasons at Jaguar, Evans joined the new Opel GSE Formula E Team for 2026-27. He will partner Theo Pourchaire in the team's first season as an entrant. The switch marks a new chapter for a driver who had been the face of the Jaguar effort for a decade.
Evans is managed by Mark Webber and Mathieu Michel, and the Webber link runs back to his early GP3 days at MW Arden.
How did Evans's 2022-23 season go?
Evans had a difficult 2022-23 season at Jaguar. He took pole at the inaugural Hyderabad ePrix, but he retired from the race after a collision caused by teammate Sam Bird, having led before the incident. He still won at Sao Paulo and Berlin and finished third in the championship.
The season started with a few points at Mexico City and Diriyah. At Cape Town he could not profit from fourth on the grid, because a penalty for overusing power dropped him back. He described the Sao Paulo win as a very special moment, and at Berlin he passed Sebastien Buemi with two laps to go to take another victory.
What did the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons bring?
In 2023-24 Evans fought for the title for the fourth season in a row, but he lost the championship to Pascal Wehrlein by six points. His contract at Jaguar TCS Racing was renewed after the 2023 London ePrix, and his title rival Nick Cassidy became his new teammate, replacing Bird.
Evans scored two victories that season, at Monaco and Shanghai. The 2024-25 campaign started well with a win at Sao Paulo, but it was followed by eleven straight races without points before a victory in Round 1 of the Berlin ePrix. He finished 13th in the drivers' standings, and Jaguar still finished second in the team standings with Cassidy alongside him.
How did the 2020-21 and 2021-22 seasons compare?
In 2020-21 Evans finished fourth with 90 points. At Monaco he was overtaken on the final lap by Antonio Felix da Costa and then passed on the line by Robin Frijns. His new teammate Sam Bird, who had moved from Envision to Jaguar for that season, finished three points behind him in the standings.
The 2021-22 season was stronger. Evans charged from ninth on the grid to win the first Rome ePrix, then won the next day as well. He took a third win at Jakarta and a fourth at Seoul, and the title race ended with him on 180 points, 33 adrift of Stoffel Vandoorne.
How is Evans remembered?
Evans is remembered first as a driver who won at each level he reached on the way up. He took national titles in New Zealand, the GP3 title in Europe and a long line of Formula E wins, and he has done it while staying one of the most consistent names in the series.
His family has a racing history too. His older brother Simon Evans is a former New Zealand racing driver and champion of the 2019-20 Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy. For Mitch, the record is the clearest measure of a career that began on karting tracks in Auckland.
