The Jaguar driver beat fellow Kiwi and championship protagonist Nick Cassidy by 1.6 seconds to the win, as the runner-up spot moved the Envision Racing driver into the points lead.
Maserati’s Maximilian Gunther completed the podium while Jake Dennis – who had led the championship standings ahead of the race – took fourth after a defensive drive over the final laps to keep Jean-Eric Vergne (DS Penske) and Nico Muller (Abt Cupra) behind.
The race was red-flagged on lap nine after numerous cars were involved in a high-speed accident triggered when Jaguar’s Sam Bird lost control through the high-speed left-hand Turn 6 sweep after running wide.
The Briton had started on the front row alongside team-mate Evans and initially led the opening laps after moving ahead into the first turn but was running fourth when the incident took place.
While Dennis, Cassidy and Gunther immediately behind were just able to avoid the spinning Bird, after the Briton had bounced off the wall, Envision’s Sebastien Buemi was unable to avoid the stricken Jaguar that had stopped broadside across the track.
The heavy impact sent Bird’s Jaguar further onto the racing line, with Stoffel Vandoorne hitting the wall in avoidance, while team-mate Vergne just squeezed through on the inside of the wreckage.
Edoardo Mortara’s Maserati was unable to avoid the stranded Jaguar, though, suffering a heavy head-on collision as the resulting chaos and debris caused a concertina effect behind that also claimed Antonio Felix da Costa (Porsche), Lucas di Grassi (Mahindra) and Robin Frijns (Abt Cupra).
All drivers involved in the incident were able to extract themselves from their respective cars and underwent medical checks.
Source: Autosport