Mitch Evans

Mitchell Evans
Nationality	New Zealander
Born	24 June 1994 (1994-06-24) (age 17) Auckland (New Zealand)
2011 GP3 Series
Debut season	2011
Current team	MW Arden
Car no.	26
Starts	4
Wins	1
Poles	1
Previous series
2010 2009 2009 2008–09 2008 2007–08 2007	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
2010, 2011 2010, 2011 2011	Toyota Racing Series TRS International Trophy New Zealand Grand Prix

Mitchell Evans (born 24 June 1994), is a motor racing driver from New Zealand who 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.^[1]

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.^[2] 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 at the fourth round of the 2010 Australian Drivers' Championship at Mallala.

Evans was drafted in by Australian Formula 3 entrant Team BRM to compete for them at the final round of the season, at Sandown.^[3] 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,^[4] 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.^[5]

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.^[6] 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.^[7] But quickly resumed winning at Phillip Island.

European GP3

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).^[8] The series features identical new design Dallara-Renaults, and is considered to be the feeder to GP2 and then F1.

Evans won the third race of the series (Feature race of the Second Race Event )at Circuit de Catalunya in Spain, having finishing 6th and 7th 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 3rd place in the championship, he emerged leading the championship after finishing 3rd in the feature and 4th in the sprint, and held a four point lead over 2nd placed Nigel Melker for the GP3 drivers' championship. This drive also meant MW Arden was leading the constructors championship

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	6	5	10	915	1st
	2010 Australian Drivers' Championship	Team BRM	17	8	4	4	16	219	2nd
2011	GP3 Series	MW Arden	16	1	2	0	2	29	9th
	British Formula Three	Double R Racing	3	0	0	0	0	10	20th

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	DC	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

Complete British Formula Three results

(key) (Races in bold indicate pole position) (Races in italics indicate fastest lap)

Year	Entrant	Chassis	Engine	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	19	20	21	22	23	24	25	26	27	28	29	30	DC	Points
2011	Double R Racing	Dallara F308	Mercedes HWA	MNZ 1	MNZ 2	MNZ 3	OUL 1	OUL 2	OUL 3	SNE 1	SNE 2	SNE 3	BRH 1	BRH 2	BRH 3	NÜR 1	NÜR 2	NÜR 3	LEC 1	LEC 2	LEC 3	SPA 1	SPA 2	SPA 3	ROC 1	ROC 2	ROC 3	DON 1	DON 2	DON 3	SIL 1 Ret	SIL 2 11	SIL 3 4	20th	10

^* Season in progress.
^† Did not finish, but classified

Personal

Evans attended Saint Kentigern College in Pakuranga, Auckland, but left at the end of 2010 to pursue his career overseas.^[9] Evans' career has been backed financially by entrepreneur Colin Giltrap, who helped establish careers for fellow Kiwi racing drivers Scott Dixon, Chris van der Drift and Brendon Hartley.

References

1. ^ "Evans becomes youngest Grand Prix winner". Toyota Racing Series. http://www.toyotaracing.co.nz1. Retrieved 2011-02-14. 
2. ^ "2009 Formula Ford finale a cracker". autosports.com.au (Auto Sports). 25 October 2009. http://autosports.com.au/News/1921.aspx. 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." ^{[dead link]}
3. ^ "Mitch Evans set to add spice to title decider". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 6 November 2009. http://www.formula3.com.au/news.asp?id=712. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
4. ^ "SuperPrix action gets underway with impressive rookie Mitch Evans on top". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 27 November 2009. http://www.formula3.com.au/news.asp?id=717. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
5. ^ "Joey Foster and Mitch Evans create a weekend for the record books". Formula3.com.au (Australian Formula 3). 29 November 2009. http://www.formula3.com.au/news.asp?id=722. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
6. ^ Egan, Brendon (18 January 2010). "Teen driver Evans wins debut race". stuff.co.nz (Fairfax New Zealand Limited). http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/3236336/Teen-driver-Evans-wins-debut-race. Retrieved 2010-01-26. 
7. ^ "Mitch Evans gets surprise Italian test". speedcafe.com.au (Speedcafe). 6 April 2010. http://www.speedcafe.com.au/2010/04/06/mitch-evans-gets-surprise-italian-test/. Retrieved 2010-04-11. 
8. ^ "New team collaboration between Arden boss Christian Horner and Red Bull Racing Formula 1 driver Mark Webber.". Inside GP3 accessdate=2011-29-11. http://www.gp3series.com/teams/mw-arden. 
9. ^ "Evans, Bamber in Toyota Racing Series battle". Stuff.co.nz (Fairfax New Zealand Limited). 17 March 2010. http://www.stuff.co.nz/sport/motorsport/3465789/Evans-and-Bamber-in-battle-royale. 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

New Zealand portal

• Official website
• Career statistics from Driver Database

Sporting positions
Preceded by Mitch Cunningham	Toyota Racing Series Champion 2010–2011	Succeeded by Incumbent
Preceded by Earl Bamber	New Zealand Grand Prix Winner 2011	Succeeded by Incumbent

Persondata
Name	Evans, Mitch
Alternative names	Evans, Mitchell
Short description
Date of birth	24 June 1994
Place of birth	Auckland (New Zealand)
Date of death
Place of death