Image courtesy of GP2 Media
Kiwi ace Mitch Evans will enter his third season of GP2 in 2015, and will have the title in his sights after a highly-successful 2014 campaign which saw him take two wins.
Evans began his single seater career in 2007 in the Formula First Manfeild Winter Series, after winning multiple championships in karting. The Kiwi didn’t have a particularly successful debut year, but a move up to the Formula Ford Manfeild Winter Series for 2008 saw him take the title at his first attempt, with seven wins from 12 races.
Following on from this triumph, Evans stepped up to the New Zealand Formula Ford Championship, taking six wins and runner-up in the standings, behind now-GP3 racer Richie Stanaway.
Moving away from New Zealand, 2009 saw Evans competing in the Australian Formula Ford Championship. Despite finishing second in the standings again, he became the youngest race winner in the series at the age of 15, taking a total of six victories and 15 podiums. The same year, he was signed by Team BRM to race at the final round of the Australian Formula 3 Championship, and went on to take victory in the second race of the event.
2010 saw the Kiwi compete in the Toyota Racing Series with the Giles Motorsport team, and set the tone for his season by taking pole and victory at first time of asking, adding two further wins and a total of ten podiums en route to the title. Evans stayed with Giles Motorsport for 2011, taking seven wins and 14 podiums, which was enough to give him his third championship victory in four years.
As well as the Toyota Racing Series, Evans made his debut in the GP3 Series in 2011, taking a solitary victory in Spain. 2012 was also spent sharing duties between GP3 and the Toyota Racing Series, and the Kiwi duly delivered in GP3, taking three victories, six podiums, and the title by a mere two points ahead of Daniel Abt.
The GP3 title gave him a route up to GP2 for 2013, debuting with the Arden International team. A relatively quiet season only produced four podiums, and a move to then-champions RT Russian Time entertained thoughts of a title challenge. Evans delivered a superb season, taking two victories and fourth in the standings.
Evans will stay with Russian Time for 2015, where he begins the season as one of the title favourites.
“I’m greatly looking forward to another GP2 season with Russian Time in what looks like being another very competitive year. We proved we had race-winning capability in 2014 and the goal has to be to build on that, put together a consistent programme and hopefully challenge for the championship.”
