Alongside regular driver Alice Powell, fellow W Series racer Jessica Hawkins made her Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy debut as a guest driver - with Abbie Eaton switching to the commentary box. Coming into tomorrow's final round, the championship remains open.
It was a very late call today when Jessica Hawkins and Jaguar Racing announced her guest drive in Wednesday and Thursday's final Jaguar I-Pace eTrophy races. Hawkins swaps places with Abbie Eaton, VIP driver in the previous three rounds and now trying her hand in the commentary box.
On pole for today's race it was Cacá Bueno (ZEG iCarros Jaguar Brazil), ahead of championship contenders Simon Evans and Sérgio Jimenez. Alice Powell for Jaguar Ran Racing Team Germany started fourth, while Jessica Hawkins was P11 ahead of second guest driver Sven Förster from Austria.
The top three held their positions at the race start, but Nick Foster managed to pass Alice Powell around the outside of turn one for 4th place. Hawkins dropped back to the last place following a slow getaway, but she did not let the field break away and passed Förster in the battle of the guest drivers after a few laps.
Förster (Jaguar VIP Car #1) was then the first driver to activate the Attack Mode, but he couldn´t used it to his favour and remained P12 and last.
Evans (Team Asia New Zealand) was the first among of the leaders to activate the Attack Mode and chased Bueno - who also tried to activate the power boost, but failed and lost first place and plenty of time to Evans. Bueno and Jimenez, now in second and third place, both activated their first Attack Mode at the same time and caught up with Evans, but the Brazilian drivers ran out of time and were not able to overtake the Kiwi.
With less than five minutes left on the clock, Bueno and Jimenez once again activated their final Attack Mode, while Evans tried to manage his lead without extra power. Again, as Bueno's Attack Mode was ending, the Brazilian was right on Evan's tail, but couldn't simply find the right gap to pass.
Evans lost his lead when he activated his own Attack Mode, but managed to stay ahead of his championship rival Jimenez. A few moments later, he caught up with Bueno and passed him for the lead again taking advantage of the extra power.
Once again, New Zalander Evans won in Berlin ahead of Jimenez - after a last lap switch with his ZEG iCarros Jaguar Brazil teammate Bueno. Evans is now three points clear of Jimenez and tomorrow the final race of the season is expected to be on fire with two possible champions.
With not much screentime, Alice Powell finished on a solid fifth place today's race and Jessica Hawkins kept her VIP class opponent Förster in the Jaguar Guest Cars behind and crossed the finish line in 11th position, few tenths away from the group of cars ahead, fighting for P6 and Am class victory. It was certainly not a bad first race for the British lady, given the short notice.
Tomorrow it will be all or nothing for Sergio Jimenez and Simon Evans at the Berlin Tempelhof track - a thrilling finale that will be broadcasted live on the Jaguar Racing Youtube channel at 16:45 CET.