With overtakes, collisions and a key retirement, the Chinese eV-Prix saw plenty of action. The race started off with Will Taylor and Oleksandr Zozulya locking out the front row for Jaguar, with Downton cars of Kip Maxwell and Brock Kidd in 3rd & 5th, while the Masertai's of Felipe Cesar and Ryota Yoshida lined up 4th and 6th. The start was rather dramatic, with both of the front row starters getting wheelspin allowing Maxwell and Cesar to fly past into first and second. Taylor struggled to match the pace of the pair at the front and he fell back slightly over the first ten laps, holding up Zozulya as well. Maxwell led for the first 6 laps but Cesar kept with him and a move into turn 19 on lap 7 saw the Brazilian snag the lead. The top 4, despite all the action, were easily pulling away from Kidd in 5th. There was few overtakes elsewhere, with the exception of Steven Kasami passing Alexander McLaughlin for 7th and Luke Stokey moving up to 9th at the expense of Otso Toivonen. Luiz Santos stalled at the start and while he did get going eventually, he slid into the barriers early on and became the first retiree.
With the top 2 beginning to disappear, Jaguar made the call to swap their two drivers around, and Zozulya immediately set off after the lead. Maxwell was beginning to get held up by Cesar, but with a good exit from turn 14 on lap 15, he drew alongside and forced Cesar to back off for the turn 16 chicane, handing the lead to the Briton. Zozulya also shot past Cesar a lap later and continued to gain on Maxwell. Taylor continued to struggled to keep up with the top 3, though he still had a comfortable buffer over Kidd. Further back Judson Sikes joined Santos in the pits when his suspension collapsed just before half distance. Zozulya clearly was the fastest car on the track now and was close to pushing Maxwell around the track. After a few tense laps he forced his way past at turn 7 and took the lead. There was drama behind as Cesar suddenly slowed with mechanical issues. The mechanics tried to fix it while he was on track but it came to no avail and he had to retire. This promoted Taylor back into the podium places ahead of Kidd and Yoshida, but behind the Japanese driver there was plenty of action. Kasami and McLaughlin were having a fantastic battle, while two brilliant overtakes saw Rodrigo Sanchez move up to 8th ahead of Stokey and Toivonen having fallen to 11th briefly. The latter two were having a big tussle, allowing Sebastian Bergkvist and Aron Einarsson (both having anonymous races until then) to catch up and slide past the pair to move into the points themselves. Stokey and Toivonen's battle continued and ended up with the Finn in the barrier after the two banged wheels. Everyone bar Olen Inman and Hitoshi Katayama were able to avoid the car, the latter two hitting it and joining Toivonen in retirement. Despite the mini pile up, quick work from the marshals meant the cars were removed under yellow flags quickly. Stokey, now fired up, quickly passed Bergkvist and Einarsson to force his way back into 9th, ahead of the Icelander. Back at the front, Taylor's pace worsened and Kidd overtook him in the dying laps for third. Then, in a dramatic twist, with just 2 laps left, Zozulya clipped the barriers on the exit of the final turn and spun. He kept it out of the barriers but Maxwell easily passed him to take the lead. He made no mistakes and took his first win in virtual motorsports since his Indy days with the fastest lap to boot. Zozulya was second, though he was not seen after the race. Kidd and Taylor rounded out the top 4. Yoshida had a quiet race in 5th, but was nearly caught at the end by McLaughlin who triumphed over Kasami in the battle for 6th. Sanchez's exceptional weekend ended with 8th and his first points this year. Stokey and Einarsson rounded out the points Despite a relatively poor race, Taylor took the lead of the championship, by just 2 points ahead of Kidd. Zozulya's mistake meant he only improved to third, while Cesar has slipped to 4th thanks to his first retirement of the year. The top 4 drivers are only separated by 10 points. Jaguar still lead the team's standings, but Downton have improved to 2nd ahead of Maserati.
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