While Bird also started on the front-row, Evans missed out on the qualifying duels and started down in ninth but made steady progress in the 43-lap contest which included leading briefly at the midway point of the race.
Evans, who decisively jumped to the head of the field with four laps remaining after a late dive to the inside of Buemi at Turn 1, believes avoiding cars lifting off into the braking zones was tricky to manage. “I knew it was going to be chaos but that was on another level. To navigate yourself through some of the slow [cars], people backing up in front of you.