Jaguar suffered an unusually off weekend on Formula E's second visit to Indonesia, with both the factory team and customer Envision squad struggling to contend with the frontrunners on the 2.4km track.
Although Evans qualified an impressive third, he was simply not able to match the pace of front-row starters Maximilian Gunther and Jake Dennis.
Despite falling as far back as 18.5s, a gap unusually large by FE standards, Evans was able to keep a train of cars behind him in the closing stages of the race to score 15 crucial points for his title bid.
The Kiwi explained that Jaguar lacked both outright pace and energy efficiency in Jakarta, but a lack of overtaking opportunities meant he was able to hang on to third place ahead of the chasing Nissans of Sacha Fenestraz and Norman Nato.
"[It was a] huge recovery, but you could see in the race it was not our usual pace. Normally the race we really shine, and I was lacking efficiency and just general place. I was a proper roadblock at the end.
Speaking to Motorsport.com, he added: "I was a roadblock. Proper roadblock. It feels awful but that's what I had to do to secure that podium."
The key to Jaguar's podium finish in Diriyah was Evans' impressive qualifying effort that put him third on the grid, seven places ahead of the next Jaguar-powered car of Envision driver Nick Cassidy.
Evans revealed that Jaguar tried a host of changes overnight that delivered a tangible improvement in one-lap pace, even as its performance in race trim remained weak.
"I would say between FP1 to quali 2 we made many, many set-up changes, a bit of trial and error to be honest," he explained.
"We just took a last stab at qualifying on Sunday with a different mechanical balance and systems and stuff, just the whole combination.
"The car has a very, very fine window. We were just on either side of it both days. We got back into it a bit but it was also not our usual pace. It was good to get to the duels and compared to yesterday we took a big step."
