Jaguar Racing left the inaugural Zurich E-Prix encouraged by its performance despite the team's race unravelling courtesy of a number of incidents out on track.
Prior to qualifying, the British marque showed strong pace in first and second practice, with Mitch Evans setting the second fastest time in both sessions while inaugural Formula E champion Nelson Piquet Jr was fourth and ninth respectively.
This pace continued over in qualifying, with Evans securing both his and the team's maiden Formula E pole position while Piquet only managed 11th on the grid.
In the race, Evans maintained his lead from Andre Lotterer who slotted into second on the grid for Techeetah while Piquet made contact with Audi Sport Abt Schaeffler's Daniel Abt on the opening lap, receiving the black and orange flag and therefore being forced to pit for repairs which dropped the Brazilian to the back of the field.
Evans maintained his lead up until lap 18 before he was passed by Lucas di Grassi in the second Audi entry, the Kiwi under strict instructions to maintain energy consumption targets which meant that he, therefore, surrendered the lead.
Following the deployment of a full course yellow on lap 19, Jaguar's race unravelled when Evans was handed a drive-through penalty for failing to slow down sufficiently for the safety procedure. This meant that he finished down in seventh place while Piquet was forced to retire with a driveshaft problem.
“It has been fantastic to be part of a series that has brought motor racing back to Switzerland after 64 years," said James Barclay, team director of Jaguar Racing.
"Panasonic Jaguar Racing made history here in Zurich as we secured our first Pole Position in Formula E demonstrating the speed the team has which is a real positive to take to the final two races in New York.
“Mitch [Evans] had a good start to the race and along with a number of drivers was penalised under the Full Course Yellow, which comprised his race.
"He brought the Jaguar I-TYPE 2 home and delivered more points for the team. A slightly frustrating end result but we know we have a good car which can deliver points for the team.”
Evans, who missed out on what could have been a second podium finish in Formula E's present Season Four campaign, said that Jaguar's pace in Zurich indicated the progress that the team has made in its two seasons in Formula E:
“Securing our first Formula E Pole Position gave the team a real lift and shows how far we have come," he said.
"Unfortunately the race did not play out as we had hoped. In New York we will try hard and deliver more points to finish the season off well.”
For Piquet, his retirement in Zurich marked his fourth recorded DNF in the last five races while his current pointless run in Season Four has dropped him down to 10th in the Drivers' Championship:
"The chicane traffic caused damage to the car which ultimately led to my retirement," he said.
"The beginning of the season has been good however a mixture of bad luck and incidents have been disappointing in recent races. With two races to go in New York we’ll try to deliver more points for the team.”
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