Jaguar TCS Racing were looking set for a double-points finish with two laps remaining of the Mexico City E-Prix. A decision by the race leaders to extend the race by another lap meant the fearless energy strategy ultimately left both Jaguar drivers and a number of other teams with an extra lap to complete.
As a result Sam Bird and Mitch Evans, who had fought through the pack, finished in P15 and P19 respectively.
Neither driver was able to progress from the group stages of qualifying after a close and challenging session. Mitch missed out on a ‘duel’ by just two hundredths of a second.
Starting in P11 and P17 on the grid, New Zealander Mitch Evans and Briton Sam Bird collectively climbed 12 places into the points, showing the race pace and efficiency of the Jaguar I-TYPE 5. Evans capitalised on his ATTACK MODE early in the race, taking three places in two minutes while Bird also climbed inside the top 10 making decisive overtakes.
A strategic decision from the Porsche team, who were leading the rest of the field, meant that the race went long and into an additional lap. This left the Jaguar TCS Racing drivers an impossible task to defend positions while trying to save enough energy to take the chequered flag.
Jaguar TCS Racing sit seventh in the teams’ standings after the third round of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship.
James Barclay, Jaguar TCS Racing Team Principal: “Congratulations to Porsche on their first victory in Formula E. We have a race package that can compete but our issue was that we were marginally off the pace in qualifying. We have seen how important this new qualifying format is and we haven’t been able to optimise that yet, although Mitch was just a fraction off making the duels. We took a gamble to be aggressive and that didn’t pay off but we’re here to race and to score big points so we decided to take that risk.
“We now have a long gap of six weeks, and a lot of work to do to ensure we come back and get our championship fight back on track in Rome. We have a great team so we’ll rally together and come back fighting.”
Mitch Evans, Jaguar TCS Racing driver #9: “Firstly, it’s been great to be back at this incredible venue with the amazing Mexican fans. Unfortunately, the race didn’t go to plan, we were hoping to scrape back some points. We decided to take a bit of a gamble with the strategy and it didn’t quite pay off. It’s not the race that we wanted but we have a big break now to regroup and make sure we have the performance back for the rest of the season.”
Sam Bird, Jaguar TCS Racing driver #10: “This has been a really tough day. We were there in race speed but when you’re starting towards the back, it makes it really tricky. This championship is the hardest in the world. We have a long break now and I have full belief in our team that we can turn this around. We have a great team, an excellent race car and I’m really motivated for Rome.”
Lights go green for round four and five of season eight of the ABB FIA Formula E World Championship in Rome on 9 and 10 April 2022.
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