Panasonic Jaguar Racing recovers well in Mexico City after another tough start

Panasonic Jaguar Racing endured another tough weekend in Mexico as Mitch Evans fought back well to secure some vital points for the team.

Heading into the weekend, the team had their sights set improving both driver’s performance during qualifying, which has affected their performance before the last two races in Marrakesh and Santiago.

Both Mitch and Nelson Piquet Jr struggled again as they started 17th and 11th on the grid respectively, despite Nelson recording the fastest first sector time.

Facing a battle again to score some valuable points from the weekend, both Mitch and Nelson began the race positively, with the New Zealander jumping up ten places while his team-mate climbed three positions to eighth.

With a double points score becoming a real possibility, Nelson’s weekend came to an abrupt end as he clipped Jean-Eric Vergne’s rear wheel. The impact sent him over the top of Vergne’s DS Techeetah car before slamming into the barrier. Thankfully, Nelson emerged from the wreckage unharmed.

Mitch continued his good form climbing a further four places before the race’s conclusion earning himself six valuable points, and securing his fourth consecutive points finish of the season. Despite finishing seventh, he was only 5.8 seconds behind winner Lucas Di Grassi in his Audi Sport ABT Schaeffler, with BMW i Andretti Motorsport’s António Félix Da Costa and Venturi’s Edoardo Mortara completing the podium.

Team Director James Barclay said there was a huge amount of relief among the team when Nelson Piquet Jr got out unhurt.

“Nelson was committed to the move, it looked like Vergne moved over and lifted off earlier than normal and he had nowhere to go,” he added.

“We went for an aggressive strategy for Mitch and he executed that really well. Unfortunately, after the restart he got caught behind Vergne for a long period of the race. Mitch drove well to get to seventh and the team managed his energy levels perfectly to the finish of the race.”

Mitch Evans echoed those sentiments complimenting the team’s management of his car’s energy levels. He added that the race was a tough one: “I had a good first few laps – things opened up for me and I took advantage of them. To recover from P17 with some points is nice.

“The past two qualifying sessions haven’t gone well for us, and we need to fix that if we want podiums and wins.”

Nelson meanwhile was thinking what might have been, adding: “I was fighting for position and we touched, but this happens – its racing.

“I had a good start progressing to P9 and I was pushing Vergne to try and overtake. He braked early while I was still accelerating and I went over his rear wheel.”

After four races of Season 5 of the ABB FIA Formula E Championship, Mahindra Racing’s Jérôme D’Ambrosio leads the drivers’ championship with Mitch and Nelson currently ninth and 18th overall. While Panasonic Jaguar Racing is currently seventh in the constructors’ standings, two points behind Venturi Formula E Team.

Mexico City also saw the second race of the Jaguar I-PACE eTROPHY season, where Katherine Legge took maximum points and the Championship lead.

Starting on pole position the British driver held off team-mate Bryan Sellers to take the chequered flag, in the process writing her name in the history books as the first female driver to win a race during the ABB FIA Formula E race weekend.

Speaking after the race, Katharine said taking pole and top step on the podium is testament to the hard work the team have put in this week.

“There were a lot of learnings from round one, and to put these into play in Mexico was really rewarding,” she added. “Hong Kong can’t come soon enough, and I hope to take the momentum from this race into the rest of the season.”

The results from Mexico means Katharine now leads the Pro championship by one point ahead of Simon Evans, Sérgio Jimenez and Bryan Sellers, while Bandar Alesayi has built a commanding lead at the top of the Pro Am standings.

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